Memoirs of the queens of Prussia

I

1

I

MEMOIRS

QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

EMMA WILLSHEE ATKINSON.

LONDON;
W. KENT AND CO.,

PATERNOSTER ROW, AND FLEET STREET1,

1858.

LONDON: PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDBH,
ANOEL COURT, SKINNER STREET.

TO

A MUCH BELOVED INVALID SISTEB,

IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED

BY

THE AUTHORESS.

PREFACE.

AN account of the Lives of the Queens of Prussia cannot
fail to possess some interest for the English reader, independent
of all merit of composition, at a moment when England is
about to bestow the eldest of her royal daughters upon the
Crown Prince, and, in all human probability, the future Sove-
reign of that country.

With the greater confidence, therefore, I now lay before the
public the following " Memoirs of the Queens of Prussia;"
the materials for which have in great part been selected from
the memoirs of contemporary authors, the despatches of foreign
ambassadors, &c. during a residence of some time in the
dominions of the King of Prussia. And let me here offer my
sincere thanks to all those who have contributed to aid me in
my researches, or to lighten my labours by their kindness,
during my sojourn in Germany.

I must also here observe, that, as the object of this work is
professedly the history of the Queens of Prussia, none of whom
ever, even at a period when most of the chief States of Europe
were ruled by female influence, had any share in the govern-
ment, or interfered in political affairs, I have thought it more
consonant with my subject to give only such outlines of con-

VI PREFACE.

temporary historical events, as were necessary for the clearer
connection of my narrative, or the better development of cause
and effect.

Of the history of the Electresses of Brandenburg previous
to the assumption of the regal title by that house, and of the
character of the people to whose keeping we are about to
entrust our Princess Royal, I proceed to draw a cursory sketch
in my Introductory Chapter.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 1

LIFE OF SOPHIA CHARLOTTE, OF HANOVER, FIRST QUEEN OF

PRUSSIA ........... 29

LIFE OF SOPHIA LOUISA, OF MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN, SECOND

QUEEN OF PRUSSIA 102

LIFE OF SOPHIA DOROTHEA, OF HANOVER, THIRD QUEEN OF

PRUSSIA 127

LIFE OF ELIZABETH CHRISTINA, OF BRUNSWICK BEVERN,

FOURTH QUEEN OF PRUSSIA 211

LIFE OF FREDERICA LOUISA, OF HESSE DARMSTADT, FIFTH

QUEEN OF PRUSSIA 299

LIFE OF LOUISA, OF MECKLENBURG-STRELITZ, SIXTH QUEEN

OF PRUSSIA . 329

MEMOIRS

OF THE

QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

"PRUSSIA/' says the < Jahrbuch ' for ]855, "maybe looked
upon as a little Germany." And, comprising as it does within
its boundaries samples of so great a variety of continental
races, and districts of the most varied regions of Central
Europe, — from the fertile soil and picturesque mountains of
Silesia, round by the mercantile coasts of the Baltic, to the
barren, sandy plains of Westphalia, and the smiling, garden-
like regions of the beautiful Rhine, — the idea of an epitome of
Germany does not seem misapplied to this kingdom.

An Englishman, escaping from the hurry that life in London
has become, to rush, with the impetus of its high pressure still
urging him, at railroad speed over the Continent, is struck by
the leisurely air which even business assumes in its towns.
The Frenchman saunters through the streets of his capital, be-
cause he has time to be amused by the way ; whilst the German,
being neither under steam-pressure, nor trying to crowd three
lives into one, as we do, has leisure to enjoy his pipe and his
meditation.

In the same manner, any one accustomed to do business only
in England, is astonished at the slowness of the process in
Germany ; at the difficulty of obtaining information ; in short,
at the number of " circumlocution offices " upon which he
stumbles. Nevertheless, he who has leisure to appreciate the

2 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA,

absence of that spirit of emulation which in England besets all
ranks, and is the destruction of so many amongst the middle
and lower classes, feels it a haven where he may grow old re-
spectably, and not rush into gray hairs with such irreverent
haste as we English do now-a-days.

Another thing, too, which is especially appreciated by the
educated dependent, who in England has groaned an unwilling
thrall to the monied despotism of the middle classes, is, that in
Germany he is enfranchised, because the mind and not the
money marks the social position of the man ; because the ques-
tion there is not what a man has, but what he is. A position
which seems somewhat Utopian to a person used only to the
narrow circles of exclusion subdividing English society, but
which is, nevertheless, fact.

We find there but little of the attempt at style in point
of dress, household attendants, equipage, &c., which charac-
terizes so many English establishments. The German is con-
tent to seem that which he is.

Were I asked what was the prevailing characteristic of the
Germans as a nation, I should say domesticity. Not that their
houses are nearly so " comfortable " as ours, for although they
have adopted our word " comfort," the thing signified is but
little understood amongst them.

But though the English idea of fireside happiness has no
meaning in Germany, yet the German, as, surrounded by his
family, he takes his coffee in the garden, and smokes while the
ladies of the party knit, is as pleasant a picture of domestic
tranquillity as one would wish to see.*

As regards morality, the German standard is high. te There
is no civilized people which is more moral, nor amongst whom
the mean duration of life is longer."f So far the German in

* The Germans smoke inveterately, all day long, cigar after cigar. The whole
air of the towns is redolent of tobacco-smoke, an advantage if it could overpower
the rival odour of the gutters.

t Rougemont.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 3

his private and domestic relations. In his literary and scientific
capacity, I need not remind my readers of the very large pro-
portion of writers of eminence upon philosophy, science, and
history, furnished by Germany. The language, pliable as it is,
and capable of rendering with accuracy the nicest distinctions
of scientific definition, or of becoming a vehicle for the lofty
inspiration of the poet, affords ample facility for such minds as
those of Goethe, Schiller, and Jean Paul to " wreak themselves
on language •" whilst Humboldt, Liebig, and Oken have made
a torch of it, to light up the secret caverns of nature and the
mysteries of science, for eyes not penetrating enough to pierce
the darkness for themselves. Yet, whilst that structure of the
language obtains, which places the active principle, often the
copula itself at the end of the sentence, German can never be
the first of living languages ; because it does not flash its pur-
port clear into the mind at once, but produces its effect more
gradually ; does its work by reasoning, rather than by the pho-
tography of thought. (Perhaps this structure of the language
may account for the German seldom being a passionate man
— he has time to reflect before he gets to the end of a sen-
tence !) For the same cause, its writers are too diffuse ; its
historians are too minutieux3 its philosophers too apt to refine
upon refinement. He who took a carpenter's foot-rule* to
measure the length and breadth of one of Kant's sentences,
might still arrive at the same result of so many feet by so many
inches, with the sentences of some more recent writers. With
regard to light literature, Germany has her novelists, although
they are somewhat cumbrous and far less read than the trans-
lated works of English and American writers of the same class.
" Sam Weller's " sayings are quoted with an unintentional
adoption of the paternal pronunciation of his patronymic.
" Uncle Tom " shows his black face in every bookseller's
window there as well as here. Eva and Topsy make one of the
prettiest of the porcelain Licht-bilder commonly sold in the

* Fraser's Magazine, March, 1857, article on Kemble's " State Papers."

B 2

4 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

shops, and even the " Song of Hiawatha " appears done into
German as " Das Lied von Hiawatha " I

It is characteristic of the Germans, whose humour is rather
genial and kindly than sarcastic, that they have no satirist of
eminence; and, to their credit be it spoken, few licentious
writers. With regard to the female part of the community,
there are few literary women amongst them. There are com-
paratively few who write their own language with facility and
elegance; probably because the German ladies devote them-
selves too entirely to the cares of the household to have time
for the cultivation of their literary tastes ; but they are, I can
answer for it, right good wives and mothers, sisters, friends, and
nurses.

Perhaps nothing better illustrates German national character
than German national music ; from the simple " Volkslieder,"
whose depth and tender pathos are never fully appreciated till
they are heard from the lips of a German, accompanied by
their own peculiar and singularly expressive melody, to the
grand compositions of Beethoven, and the sublime strains of
Handel — all is singularly characteristic of a people with whom
affection is the want of the heart, religion the necessity of the soul.

But the Prussian, as a subject, is what more especially con-
cerns us just now. In this respect he differs widely from the
Englishman, who has a growl for every new measure of Govern-
ment, and could always legislate far better than the Legislature.
The German troubles himself but little about politics. One
does not hear every little assemblage of men discussing the
Prussian equivalent for "last night's debates/'* For his
further character in this capacity, I quote the words of a very
good book, which has been suffered to go out of print. t

* Of course there is a good and sufficient reason why Prussian subjects should
not openly express their opinions upon political affairs ; but there is also undoubt-
edly far less natural inclination to question the proceedings of the powers that be
amongst Germans than amongst Englishmen.

i Rougemont, " Precis d' Ethnographic de Statistique et de Geog. Historique,
ou Essai d'une G6ographie de 1'Homme."

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

"There is no nation which is more heartily attached to its
rulers than this, none to which obedience is less painful. The
German nation, too, is the only one which has never stained the
throne of its sovereigns with blood by means of assassinations
or judicial murders."

A very slight acquaintance with Prussian history is sufficient
to afford abundant proof of the truth of this statement, as
regards that part of Germany. The people which submitted
like obedient children to the well-meant harshness of Frederic
William I., aided Frederic II. unflaggingly with heart and
hand during the long campaigns of that desperate struggle for
existence, the Seven Years' War, looked with affectionate pity
rather than contempt upon the kind-hearted, weak-headed
Frederick William II., and rose as one man to right their
injured and bereaved, but ever beloved sovereign Frederic
William III., need no testimony but their own deeds to show
what devotion their future monarchs may expect from them, and
to justify the further statement of the same author, that the
German character may be summed up in one word, " Love ! "

I must now pass on to an outline of the early history of
Prussia. The family which now occupies the throne traces
back its origin to a very early period. Its head was that Count
Tassilon who somewhere about the year 800 founded the Suabian
house of Hohenzollern. The eleventh count of that family
left two sons, Frederic, who continued the line of Hohenzollern,
and Conrad, who about the year 1200 took the title of Bur-
grave of Nuremberg. Frederic V., Burgrave of Nuremberg,
having rendered services to the Emperor Charles IV., was by
him made a prince of the empire. His two sons, according
to the customs of the time, each succeeded to a share of his
domains, and the elder, dying without posterity, his brother,
Frederic VI., inherited the whole burgraviate, and ultimately
became the first Elector of Brandenburg of the Hohenzollern
family.

This territory, the indomitable barbarity of whose inhabitants

6 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

had opposed a bar even to Roman conquest, and afforded
constant occupation to the arms of Charlemagne, first sub-
mitted to a governor imposed by Henry the Fowler, in 927.
From that time, until the above-mentioned Frederic V. of
Nuremberg became its possessor, no less than nine races
of Markgrafs (the Hohenzollern was the ninth) had possessed
the sovereignty, all of whom, what with fighting with their
rebellious subjects at home, and their turbulent neighbours
abroad, besides occasionally selling a province or so when pressed
for money, had their hands tolerably full. By this extraordi-
nary means of sale the new Mark, and even the whole electorate
itself, had changed hands several times. The Duke of Misnia
bought it for 400,000 florins,* and resold it after a year's pos-
session to the Emperor Sigismund ; and he, having plenty of oc-
cupation of the kind already, did not feel himself in a position to
cope with the mutinous nobility of the Marks, who had taken
full advantage of the non-residence of their late sovereigns, to
become as completely insubordinate as factious nobles usually
did under such circumstances. He therefore appointed Frede-
ric VI., Burgrave of Nuremberg, to be his governor in the
electorate, and to subdue his rebellious subjects for him.
Frederic having leagued himself with the dukes of Pomerania,
encountered the rebel lords at Zossen, and defeated them : he
turned his arms next on the dukes of Pomerania themselves, and
gained a victory over them at Angermund, thus reuniting the
Mark Uckeran, which they had usurped, to his territory. But
the Emperor being displeased at his attempt to annex Saxony
also to his dominions, he here voluntarily terminated his con-
quests, after having received the investiture of the electorate, at
the diet of Constance, in 1417.

The electorate of Brandenburg at that time consisted of the
old, middle, and new Marks, the Ucker Mark, and Pregnitz ;
but the new Mark was still in the hands of the Teutonic knights.

Frederic I., as we must now call him, was extremely

* About £60, 000.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. '

fortunate in his conjugal relations. The first Electress of
Brandenburg was the " fair Else of Bavaria/'* of whom the
present Queen of Prussia is a namesake,, and a worthy repre-
sentative. She was as good as she was fair : the sick, the
oppressed, and the needy, fled to her for tendance, shelter,
and relief. She was a mother to her people, and as a mother
she was reverenced and beloved by them.

The usual partition of estates took place at the death of
Frederic I. ; but John the Alchymist, having been deprived by
his father of his birthright, was replaced in the succession by his
brother, the vigorous and noble-minded Frederic II. of the
Iron Tooth, who refused the tendered crowns of Bohemia and
Poland, rather than commit an injustice.f He made his sedi-
tious cities feel the force of his iron fang by depriving them —
Berlin amongst others — of their jurisdiction, while he carried
on with no less vigour the system begun by his father, of de-
pressing the too powerful nobility. The war commenced upon
him by George Podiebrad, on account of Lusatia having volun-
tarily surrendered itself to the magnanimous Iron Tooth, turned
to his advantage and gained him fresh territories. He also
redeemed the new Mark from the knights of the Teutonic
Order, and took the additional titles of Duke of Pomerania
and Mecklenburg, of Vandalia, Schwerin and Rostock.

Frederic of the Iron Tooth abdicated in favour of his brother
Albert Achilles, or Ulysses, as he was surnamed according to
the custom of those days. This modern Achilles finally suc-
ceeded in quieting the rebellious Nurembergers after eight
battles. In justification of his title, it is said that he leaped
alone from the walls into the town of Greiflenberg, and defended

* German account of the marriage and entrance into Berlin of the present
Queen of Prussia, published by subscription, 182 — .

f The Pope had offered the former to him in order to deprive George Podiebrad
of it. The crown of Poland he also declined to accept, unless upon its refusal by
Casimir, brother of the late King Ladislaus. Frederick the Great, in reference
to this disinterested conduct, says, this prince should have been called the Mag-
nanimous, instead of Dent de Fer.

8 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

himself till his soldiers forced an entrance and came to his
rescue. Besides being a great admirer of the theory of chivalry,
he was so great also in the practice of arms, that he gained the
prize in seventeen tournaments, and was never unhorsed in
any. He was twice married ; first to the Princess Margaret of
Baden, and secondly, to Ann of Saxony. He finally abdicated
in favour of John Cicero, his son. John Cicero's eloquence, it
is said, reconciled the three kings of Bohemia, Hungary, and
Poland when they were disputing about the possession of Silesia
and Lusatia; but his descendant, Frederic the Great, is of
opinion that the 6000 horse by which he was accompanied
might have added force to his arguments. He accorded freedom
from taxation to the nobility and clergy.

The name of his Electress was Margaret of Misnia. He left
two sons, one of whom, Joachim Nestor, succeeded him; the
other, the cardinal archbishop Albert of Mainz and Magde-
burg, became the most formidable opponent of the reformation,
then beginning in Germany.

Joachim Nestor himself was also a staunch adherent of the
papacy, but his wife, the Danish princess Elizabeth, was not
only a Lutheran, but a great admirer and personal friend of
Luther himself; her husband treated her with harshness on
this account, and so unendurable did his persecutions become,
that the Electress was obliged to escape by night, leaving her
children behind her, to Torgau, the residence of her Protestant
uncle, John of Saxony. Her husband's wrath waxed so hot at
this desertion, that he threatened all sorts of fearful punish-
ments if she fell again into his hands. However, his anger
having undergone the cooling influence of time, he permitted
her sons to visit her at her residence of Lichtenberg on the
Elbe, where she had fixed her abode in order to be near her
beloved friend and pastor Luther. She even once resided for
three months in his house, in order yet more fully to enjoy the
benefit of communion with him. She lived to a good old age,
having survived her husband for twenty years.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.

9

Scandalized at his wife's apostacy, Joachim Nestor before his
death caused his son to take a solemn oath of adhesion to the
orthodox faith. Joachim II. reflected for four years on the
claims of his oath versus the claims of his judgment, which
was on the side of the reformed doctrines, and as conscience
acted as advocate on both sides, the new Elector was in sore
perplexity ; his affection for his mother and her example, how-
ever, probably turned the scale, for he became a Protestant.

His first chaplain Agricola, called from his birth-place
Meister Eisleben, was one of the proposers of the Interim of
Augsburg, and was nicknamed by Luther his "Eislebener
beer-brother;" on his death Joachim delivered the care of his
conscience into the hands of Musculus, who had adopted that
more significant title instead of his family name of Meusel ; he
was a sturdy disputant, a defender of the Lutheran doctrine of
justification by faith, and a very " powerful preacher" besides.
A man of muscle also it appears that he needed to be, for we
are told that one day, as he was preaching in the open air, three
spirits dragged away the pulpit from under him ; he however,
nothing daunted, caught hold of the branches of a tree over
head and continued his sermon ! Joachim II. himself was
extremely original, both in matters of religion and in other
things. He embraced the views of his chaplain on the above-
mentioned much-contested question of justification ; upon one
occasion he summoned his court and clergy to hear his " testa-
ment;" it so happened that Gottschalk Buchholzer, generally
called only Gottschalk, one of the principal opponents of Mus-
culus, was present ; the Elector, addressing himself to the
ecclesiastics especially, began his speech thus : — "I have
hitherto often listened to your preaching, now it is your turn
to listen to mine." He then declared his entire approval of
the views of Musculus, and wound up his discourse in the fol-
lowing terms : — " By the Lord George ! I will stand by Mus-
culus, I commend my soul to God, but yours, with your Gotts-
chalkischen doctrines, to the devil." Gottschalk, says Vehse,

10 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

died soon after this " electoral expectoration." Joachim II. was
very strict in his administration of justice; robbers found no
mercy at his hands, and culprits in matters of dress, which
had then risen to an extravagant pitch of absurdity, little more:
he set Musculus to write a book of " Warning and Exhorta-
tion" to those who were led away by the " Order-and-honour-
endangering-Hose-devil" of the times, and to enforce the
warning, he caused three burgers' sons who had appeared in
the " audacious," nether investments then in fashion, " mon-
strous slashed breeches containing over a hundred ells of stuff,"*
to be hung up in a great cage in a public place, with music to
play before them all day.

Despite his religious strictness, however, Joachim II. had
his peculiar weaknesses, he was very fond of the good things
of this world, and from sheer good nature allowed himself
to fall into much extravagance.f Neither was he particularly
faithful in his conjugal relations. He was twice married, first
to Madeline, daughter of that great opponent of the reforma-
tion, George of Saxony; and secondly, to Hedwig of Poland,
who, having injured herself by a fall, was ever after obliged to
walk with the aid of crutches. Despite the efforts of his
skilful financier Matthias, and of his great minister Distel-
meyer, " the eyes and the light of the Mark/' J the Elector
managed to leave a debt of 2,600,000 thalers as a legacy to
his successor; his death in 1571 was brought on by a cold,
caught in a wolf-hunt, in which he had joined, despite his
advanced age and the severity of the Christmas weather.

John George was a far more zealous Lutheran than his father
had been ; he continued to Distelmeyer his office as chancellor,
but showed great severity to several of his father's favourites,
in particular to Lippold the Jew, who had helped Joachim II.

* Vehse.

•(• Vehse makes the following extract from the letter of an ambassador, con-
tained in the papers of Cardinal Granvelle, ' ( Si dice che questo Marchese in una
dieta, spese 30,000 fiorini in vino."

£ " Oculus et lumen Marchiae."- - Vehse.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 11

in his money difficulties, and who was now put to death with
great cruelty.

The dissensions between the Lutheran and Calvinistic parties
had now reached such a height that terrible scandal was often
cast by each side upon its own Christianity. The Lutherans
looked upon Mahommedanism as a venial error compared with
Calvinism, and the Calvinists returned the compliment.* A
writer of the time says, " The priests so fought, scolded, and
quarrelled that it was sin and shame. In one church they
even began to fight with the candle-sticks, whilst those of
another threw stones at each other in the market-place. f One
of the most remarkable men of this time was Leonhard Thur-
neysser, a Swiss by birth, who, after travelling in Europe, Asia,
and Africa, had on his return, gained immense celebrity as a
physician, anatomist, botanist, alchemist and judicial astrologer.
The Elector consulted him on the health of his second wife,
Sabina of Anspach, and Thurneysser afterwards settled at the
Prussian court as " Leibmedicus." He there acquired immense
wealth by means of the rich and powerful individuals who
applied to him for horoscopes, talismans, amethyst-water, ruby,
emerald and pearl tincture, oil of beauty, &c. &c. Even the
Emperor Maximilian and Queen Elizabeth of England sent
letters to him, and so great was the luxury in which he lived,
that he could even afford to wear silk stockings every day, then
a mark of great opulence.

John George was thrice married, and was the father of
twenty-three children. Sophia of Liegnitz died whilst he was
still electoral prince, but Sabina of Anspach and Elizabeth of
Anhalt were successively Electresses of Brandenburg. The two
latter ladies were both of them great friends of Thurneysser,
and used to visit and consult him upon all emergencies.

John George was succeeded in 1596 by his eldest son

* During the reign of John Sigisnmnd a book was printed by an ecclesiastic
named Hoe, entitled " Better a Turk than a Calvinist."
t Thurneysser ; see Vehse.

12 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Joachim Frederic. Like his father he was a zealous Lutheran >
his first wife, Catherine of Custrin, was not only likewise
firmly attached to those doctrines, but was a sincere Christian
besides — a conjunction by no means inevitable. She caused
various books to be printed in aid of the cause of religion, and
even composed a book of prayers herself; and though she
embraced the doctrine of justification by faith, she by no
means excluded good works from her practice. Her benevo-
lence was profuse, but judicious. She was a " mother to the
poor, a nurse to the sick." * It was she who founded the
Castle Apotheke at Berlin, for the purpose of distributing
medicine gratis to the poor, and who also established a great
dairy in the suburb of Coin, which gave its name to the still
existing " Molkenmarkt " of that quarter. This Electress,
too, was a model of housewifery and hospitality.

Whilst still electoral princess, and residing in Halle, her
husband being administrator and Bishop of Magdeburg and
Havelberg, she had become acquainted with Thurneysser;
struck with admiration of his talents, she cultivated his friend-
ship, and consulted him on all occasions, especially, when left
bare of money by her profuse liberality, she applied to him to
obtain her fresh supplies by the acceptance of bills, the sale of
her jewels, &c. &c. With her husband's concurrence she
built a laboratory for him at Halle, in order to ensure his more
frequent visits to their court. Joachim Frederic's second
Electress was Eleonore, second daughter of Albert Frederic,
the imbecile Duke of Prussia, whose estates he administered ;
Albert Frederic was the son of Albert of Brandenburg, the
Grand Master of the Teutonic knights, who, having laid aside
the habit of his order and become a Protestant, received in
1525 the investiture of the duchy of Prussia from the hands
of Sigismund King of Poland : Prussia having been tributary
to that kingdom since the treaty of Thorn in 1466, had com-
pleted the humiliation of the Teutonic order.

* Vehse.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 13

The Princess Eleonore, by her marriage with the Elector
Joachim Frederic, became, curiously enough, mother-in-law of
her own elder sister Anna, who was the wife of that prince's
son, John Sigismund.

It was this marriage of John Sigismund with Anna, the
eldest daughter of Albert Frederic, which added the duchy of
Prussia to the possessions of the elder branch of the family of
the Electors of Brandenburg, (Albert Frederic dying without
male issue,) at the same time that it gave rise to the long-con-
tinued disputes concerning the succession of Juliers and Berg,
which was afterwards to afford the pretext for Frederic the
Great's invasion of Silesia.* The mother of the present
Electress Anna and of the Electress Dowager Eleonore of Bran-
denburg, was Marie Eleonore, daughter of William, Duke of
Cleves. She was the eldest of four sisters ; her brother dying
without issue left his inheritance to her.f But when the suc-
cession became open in 1609, the Pfalzgraf Wolfgang Wil-
liam of Neuburg (son of her second sister Ann) ; the Elector
of Saxony, to whose family the eventual succession had been
promised by an imperial decree; and John Sigismund, — all
claimed it. The Elector of Brandenburg and the Duke of
Neuburg, each thinking a part of this fertile territory better
than the chance of none, were minded to come to an amicable
partition. The Emperor Leopold, having interested views in
the matter, favoured the idea ; but the Protestant princes of
the Union, who saw his aim, opposed it, and placed John Sigis-
mund at their head : whilst the Catholic princes, who had united
themselves in the League, supported Wolfgang William. The
Dutch and Henry IV. of France also took an active share in the
dispute, but that monarch's death in 1610 stopped the imme-
diate outbreak of war. This contest was the first smoke of those
fermenting elements of discord, out of whose spontaneous
combustion afterwards blazed forth the Thirty Years' War.

John Sigismund once more tried to settle the affair amicably

* Preuss, " Lebens Geschichte Friedrichs des Grossen."
f "Mem. pour servir a Thist. de Brand." Fred. Great.

14 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

this time by means of a matrimonial alliance ; but unfor-
tunately, on the occasion of the Pfalzgraf's visit to arrange for
his marriage with the Elector's daughter, the conviviality rose
to a somewhat boisterous pitch, and the Elector gave his in-
tended son-in-law a box on the ear, which effectually drove all
matrimonial ideas, in that quarter, out of his head. The Pal-
grave of Neuburg shortly afterwards married a Bavarian prin-
cess, and went over to the Roman Catholic religion.

The Elector John Sigismund, on his side had long beheld
with disgust the excessive intolerance of the Lutherans towards
the opposite party. Now, with a political motive — namely, the
hope of securing the continuance of assistance from the Dutch
— superadded, he went over to the " reformed," that is, German
Calvinistic doctrines. The affair of the succession was at
length temporarily settled by a division, John Sigismund ob-
taining Cleves, Ravensberg, and Mark; and the Palgrave,
Juliers, Berg, and Diisseldorf.

The change in her husband's religious profession was highly
repugnant to the wishes of the Electress Anna, who was both
staunch in Lutheran doctrines and possessed of a decided will.
She, it is said, even allowed it to be apparent that she did not
disapprove of the open and somewhat violent expression of
public opinion upon this unpopular step. This Electress appears
to have interfered considerably in political measures during the
succeeding reign of her weak-minded son George William.
She raised difficulties with the Lutheran government of Prussia
respecting his investiture into that duchy, which she wished to
subvert to her younger son, John Sigismund. She also be-
trothed one of her daughters, the fair Eleonora, to Gustavus
Adolphus of Sweden, during George William's absence, and
carried out the marriage, despite his declared opposition, on his
return ; thus allying him, against his will, with the great oppo-
nent of the Emperor of Germany, (on whose continued favour
he believed his own and his country's existence to depend,)* and

* He used frequently to say, " So bleibt der Kaiser, Kaiser, So bleibe ich und
mein Sohn wohl Kurfurst, wenn ich an dem Kaiser halte." — Vehse.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 15

plunging him into the most cruel perplexities. Besides this,
she endeavoured to reanimate the Lutheran party in his capital,
by introducing preachers of that persuasion, likewise during
his absence : so that her final withdrawal to the court of her
son-in-law Gustavus Adolphus, was a great relief to George
William.

It was on the death of the Elector John Sigismund, which
took place in 1619, that the hereditary ghost of the Branden-
burg family, the mysterious White Lady, made her first
appearance. Accounts differ as to whose ghost the White
Lady was, and why she could not rest quietly in the land of
spirits. Some said she was the vengeful spirit of the fair and
frail Anna von Sydow, the favourite of Joachim II., whom his
successor had imprisoned for life in the castle of Spandau ; but
such a visitation of ghostly vengeance of the sins of great
grandfathers upon their great grandsons, seems particularly in-
consistent with spiritual justice. Some called her Agnes, and
some said she was Beatrix of Meran, who murdered her two
children for mad and wicked love of Albert the Handsome of
Nuremberg, an ancestor of the family ; but that lady lived a
century earlier than he did,* therefore her ghost had no better
reason for frightening the Brandenburgs than that of Anna
von Sydow. Pollnitz says she was the ghost of an old woman
whom Joachim II. turned out of her house in order to build
upon the site. Whoever she was, nobody dreamed of doubting
her visits, nor that she afterwards chose the year 40 in each
century for her grand appearances. Nay, she was considered
rather an honourable appendage and heirloom than otherwise,
and all, even the remote branches of the house claimed a White
Lady of their own, who, if she did not show herself before the
death of any important member of the family, or before any
disastrous event about to befall it, at least manifested her con-
tinued and friendly remembrance, by making horrible and
unearthly noises, shrieks, and screams. She was also apt to

* Vehse.

16 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

assert her right to frequent the premises of the family to whom
she had attached herself, by very substantial arguments, if any
one ventured to dispute the haunt with her. During the reign
of the great Elector she appeared frequently. Upon one occa-
sion she showed herself to his favourite, the Oberkammerer
Burgsdorf, who greeted her in very uncomplimentary terms,
and attempted to grapple with her, upon which she seized him
by the throat and flung him down the flight of steps he was
about to descend. Several white ladies appeared during King
Frederick William I/s reign ; but he was incredulous, and
on one occasion had a white lady who was caught whipped
out of her white garments, when it appeared that a scullion
had enacted the part. At another time a soldier, similarly
caught in the fact, was made to " ride the wooden ass," clad in
his ghostly array.

We now come to the accession of George William, and to the
outbreak of the Thirty Years' War. During this disastrous
period the electorate of Brandenburg, owing to the weakness
of its ruler and the treachery of his knavish minister Schwar-
zenberg, became by turns the prey of either party. Tossed like
a shuttlecock from the Emperor to the King of Sweden, and
from the King of Sweden to the Emperor, according as the
danger appeared more pressing on the one hand or the other,
the feeble George William lost friends on the one side by his
lukewarmness, whilst his indecision gained him no allies on the
other. His family connections, too, were most unfortunate; he
had married Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, sister of
Frederic V. the unfortunate King of Bohemia, to whom he
feared to afford a shelter in his dominions, lest he should draw
upon himself the anger of the Emperor and the King of Poland,
and incur the same fate as his two uncles, the Margrave John
George of Jagerndorf, and the Administrator of Magdeburg.

The Emperor's anger, as we have said, was a complete bug-
bear to him ; what, then, was his dismay when Gustavus Adol-
phus approached his capital, and, in his very castle itself, gave

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 17

him the choice of his friendship or his enmity ! He sent his
Electress to entertain the unwelcome guest,* while he and his
councillors held hasty consultations, whose tendency it is not
difficult to guess ; but this enforced alliance was only languidly
maintained by George William, and his territory and subjects
suffered fearfully from the faults of their sovereign.

The fate of the fair town of Magdeburg, as with a deliverer
almost, as it were, within hail, it fell into the savage hands of
Tilly's ruthless soldiery, was an awful monument of George
William's indecision, whilst, misled by his doubtful ally Saxony,
he was hesitating whether to allow Gustavus Adolphus to pass
the intervening river.

Again the mediation of the Electress was had recourse
to, and she was despatched with her ladies to the camp to
mollify the anger of the hero at this needless and frightful
waste of human life.

Of the Electress herself but little is known. She had not
much influence over the education of her son, who was separated
from her in early life, when he was sent, as we have before seen,
to Holland. After her husband's death she led a retired life at
Crossen, seldom seeing her son and his wife. Wegfuhrer,
in his Life of Louisa of Orange, says that, "but little either
of good or evil" can be said about the Electress Elizabeth
Charlotte, save that she gave an annual subscription to the
College of Joachimsthal which the Elector Joachim II. had
founded.f She died in 1660.

It is a relief to turn from the contemplation of such a scene
of vacillation and confusion as George William's reign presents,
to the firm measures and beneficent administration of his suc-
cessor Frederic William, subsequently known as the Great
Elector, who came to the electorate in 1640. Fortunately for
him, at the suggestion of Schwartzenberg, who, says Frederic

* "Mem. pour servir."

•f* The Gymnasium of Joachimsthal was destroyed in 1636, and rebuilt by
Frederic William and his consort Louisa, at Berlin.

C

18 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

the Great, dreaded the power of his developing energies, he had
been sent to Holland, where he received his education, a far
more enlightened one than it would have been at home pro-
bably.

On his father's death he found himself in the unenviable
position of a "Prince, without being in possession of his
dominions, an Elector without having the power/' *

But Frederic William faced his difficulties manfully, and set
to work with perseverance and energy, to repair the ravages made
by the war in his dominions. To gain time for this, he made a
truce for twenty years with the Swedes, and prevailed upon the
Dutch to evacuate his Rhenish domains, of which they were
then in possession. It appears that there was at one time an
idea of a marriage between the Elector and the young Queen
Christina of Sweden, but luckily, as Wegfiihrer remarks, it
went no further, Oxenstiern the Swedish minister being opposed
to the plan ; and that " strong-minded " lady indulged her
vagaries elsewhere, instead of in Brandenburg. Frederic then
seems for a time to have thought of one of the daughters
(Sophia, future Electress of Hanover,) of Elizabeth of Bo-
hemia, who was then residing at Rhenen. Finally, and hap-
pily, however, he fixed upon the young Princess of Orange, and
thus secured a partner whom he ever loved with devoted at-
tachment, and whose loss he never entirely recovered. This
lady was one of the best and purest of her sex. Hers was a
character, such as one seldom finds in any but the compa-
ratively untried and untempted paths of private life.

Leading a life of the most saint-like purity and devotion,
her piety by no means interfered with her duties either as
consort of a great prince,t or as wife of a much-beloved
husband ; whilst at the same time her household, to which in

* " M6m. pour servir."

t Leti says of her, ' ' The court was a terrestrial paradise, of which the
Electress was the tree of life, whose angelic virtues and celestial perfections
imparted life, mind and grace to all around."

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 19

all its details she attended personally, was looked upon as an
example of justly-blended economy and liberality by all the
ladies of the electoral dominions. The account-books of all
her household expenses were kept by her with a neatness and
skill which would have done credit to a regular accountant.
Even the minutiae of the linen-press and the kitchen met with
their share of her attention, and sometimes even of her actual
presence and direction, whilst the supper which awaited the
Elector on his return from his long hunting excursions, was
generally — at least in part — prepared by her hands. Although
her health was always extremely delicate, she never failed to
assemble her household to early prayers, nor to conduct the
musical part of the service herself; her charity also was muni-
ficent and punctually attended to; yet with all these occu-
pations for her time, she never failed to secure some period in
the day for the cultivation of her favourite accomplishment,
music, in which she was no mean proficient. She was a
poetess also ; her poetry was all of a devotional cast ; one of
the best of her pieces is that beautiful hymn, " Jesus my Con-
fidence," which in moments of deepest despondency never
failed to send a gleam of comfort through the heart of her
unfortunate namesake, Louisa of Mecklenburg Strelitz, whose
history and character, as well as her untimely death, afford in
so many respects a parallel to those of this ancestress of her
husband's house.

The death of her first child was a sore trial to the Electress
Louisa, and though she resigned herself to what she regarded
as a fatherly chastening, still she could not be either uncon-
scious of, or indifferent to, the disappointment of her husband
and of his people, when, after a lapse of some time, there
seemed no further probability of her giving birth to an heir :
this privation cost her many a mental conflict between her love,
and what she considered her duty to her husband. At length,
after much tearful and prayerful meditation on the subject, she

fc c 2

20 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

came to the resolution of demanding a separation, in order that
he might marry again.

Her husband, who looked upon her as the light of his
existence, was astounded when she made the proposal to him,
and vehemently rejected it, as might be expected, telling her
that man had no right to put asunder those whom God had
joined. Reassured and joyful, Louisa, now, like another
Hannah, vowed a vow to the Lord to found a home for the
homeless, in acknowledgment of His bounty, should He give
her a man-child.* Her prayer was answered by the birth of
the strong and healthy young Prince, Carl Emil. We may
imagine the joy of both parents on this occasion, and the diffi-
culty with which Louisa prevailed upon herself to allow her
mother, who had remained with, and carefully tended her for
several months before the birth of the child, to carry him back
with her to Holland for the sake of his health.

After this occurrence she resumed those active occupations,
which, by the directions of her mother and her medical at-
tendant, she had been obliged for some time to discontinue.
Her health, it is to be feared, was weakened by the want of that
self-indulgence which she could never be prevailed upon to allow
herself. She accompanied her husband to Konigsberg during
his war with Sweden, and it was there that Frederic, afterwards
King of Prussia, first saw the light. After this period Louisa's
health materially declined, and the birth of twins, which both
died, in 1664, left her in a very weak and shattered state ; a
journey was therefore undertaken to Holland,t for the purpose
of trying the effect of her native air in restoring her to health ;

* This vow Louisa was unable for several years to perform, owing to the
exhausted state of the treasury during the subsequent time of war ; but she
righteously bore it in mind, economised privately for it, and at last fulfilled it by
founding an asylum for orphans at Bb'tzow, or Oranienburg, as it was afterwards
called in honour of her.

t The last use which she made of her influence with her husband was to pro-
mote the cause of peace, by inducing him to mediate between England and Holland.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 21

and here, though much against her will, her mother prevailed
upon Frederic William to leave her. She seemed to be better
for a short time, but her constant cough and pain gave her
significant warnings, which she at least understood, to set her
house in order ; and she knew that that hour was approaching,
for which she was strengthening herself, when she wrote in
that beautiful prayer, which is still treasured as a relic of her,
" Once I prayed for earthly blessings with hot tears, and Thou
didst graciously hear me ; help me now to pray for that which
Thou commandest me to pray for/' Her only wish was now
to return to her husband and children. At last this desire
became too urgent to be denied its gratification, and she set
off; her illness assumed so alarming a character upon the road
.that she was unable to proceed, and the Elector was sent for.
Terrified by the news of her dangerous state, Frederic William
flung aside all business and flew to her side. Her joy at seeing
him, whom she feared she had parted with for the last time in
this world, was affecting in the extreme; but her yearning
wish was still " home, home." A hand-litter was accordingly
constructed for her, and thus she was borne back to the home
of her wedded love, which she was to quit no more alive.
Even on her death-bed she showed her usual unselfish fore-
thought, denying herself that little gratification of maternal
love, a last embrace of her children, lest they might suffer from
her disease, and contenting herself with taking a last, long,
yearning look at her rosy, healthy, darling Carl Emil, and the
younger Princes, Frederic and Louis.

Her husband's grief was terrible. Eemembering in his
distress the vow which Louisa had made, and the answer which
had been vouchsafed to her prayer, he, too, made a solemn vow
in writing, signed with his name and sealed with his seal, to
found a house of refuge for the poor, and to endow it with
6000 Thalers per annum, should God grant him a prolongation
of his wife's life. But the decree had gone forth that it was time
for Louisa to return to her Father's house in Heaven, and the

22 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

last sad scene drew near ; yet sad it could scarcely be called,
for her saint-like faith and peace had so calmed the minds of
all her attendants, and so stilled even the anguish of her hus-
band, that not a sob was heard in the stillness of that chamber
where Louisa's stainless soul was quitting its earthly tenement.
She lay for a long, long time as if asleep. At last some one
suggested that her sleep was the sleep of death. Her husband
seized her hand convulsively at the thought; his grasp was
faintly but distinctly returned, thrice ; that was the last sign
which she gave, at once of life and of that enduring love,
which, surviving the grave, was perhaps, as a guardian spirit,
to guide her beloved through that path of life which her
departure had left so gloomy, until it should finally hail with
celestial joy the moment of their re-union in the world of
spirits.

It was long before Frederic William in any measure reco-
vered the shock of Louisa's death. Besides the blank left by
the absence of her companionship and sympathy, he had used
himself to rely upon her opinion, not only in religious matters,
but also upon many an emergency of state. It is said that he
used frequently to leave the council table to consult the clear
and unbiassed judgment of his wife, and that after her death
he used in moments of perplexity to stand before her picture,
exclaiming sadly, " Oh, Louisa, Louisa, how sorely do I miss
thee ! " And still more sorely was he to feel that his loss was
an irreparable one, when the inadequacy of the substitute
whom he selected to occupy her place became apparent.

Oppressed by the loneliness of his once cheerful home, and
anxious to supply to his children the want of a mother's aifection
and care, he was induced to select in second wedlock, the
widowed, and no longer very young, Dorothea of Holstein
Gliicksburg,* hoping that, from her suitability of age, she might
better supply the wants of his family and household than a

* She was the widow of Christian Ludwig of Brunswick Liineburg Zelle.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 23

younger lady. But in this he was unhappily deceived. Dorothea
was comely enough in person ; but the qualities of her heart
and mind did not answer to those of her appearance ; she was
worldly, grasping, and ambitious; and her sordid views and
mean actions greatly disgusted the people, in whose minds the
remembrance of the saintly Louisa still lingered, surrounded
with a holy radiance, and from the walls of whose homes her
gentle features still smiled in many a portrait. The young
princes, too, had cause to rue the day when their father brought
a step-mother to his house ; but, as I shall have occasion to
allude to the Electress Dorothea again in the course of the
ensuing narrative, I will here break off this sketch of the early
history of the house, merely making a few remarks upon the
.different phases which may be remarked, both in the political
and moral history of Brandenburg Prussia.

Vehse, in the Introduction to his " Prussian Court," divides
its history into three periods. The first, dating from the
Reformation, he designates the " Mediseval-Theologico-Barba-
rous" period ; the second, including the Thirty Years' War and
the northern campaigns, the "partly French-gallant, partly
military-absolute ;" and the third, from the reign of Frederic
the Great, the period of " Enlightenment ;" and with this
division, the startling changes in the manners and morals of the
Prussian Court, which will be remarked in the course of the
following pages, will be found nearly to coincide.

Thus, in the times succeeding the Reformation, we find ex-
treme simplicity of manners and life pervading even the im-
mediate precincts of the Court. When Philip Hainhofer
visited Berlin, during the reign of the Elector John Sigismund,
he remarks that the Electress Anna allowed her children to
appear in very mean and ordinary clothing, saying that they
were known by all to be of princely birth, and that " virtue
and the fear of God were better ornaments for them than mere
apparel." Again, we find the Electresscs of Brandenburg at-
tending to the affairs of the menage, with as much assiduity as

24 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

the wife of any private gentleman, of moderate fortune, could
now do.

The Electress Louisa of Brandenburg, as we have seen, was
an adept in the mysteries of cooking, as well as in other
domestic matters ; and even so late as the reign of King Frederic
William I., a yearly income of 80,000 Thalers* was assigned to
his Queen Sophia Dorothea, on the express stipulation that
she should provide clothing and linen for the whole family, in-
cluding the king himself, who, say the minute historians of the
time, chose to have his shirts cut and sewed according to a
fashion of his own; whilst Frederic the Great, who after his
mother's death discarded all female interference, was reduced
to a very tattered and destitute condition in point of linen.

With this primitive simplicity of the mode of life, was almost
necessarily combined a vast amount of coarseness, ignorance
and superstition. Manners and speech were equally rough and
uncouth, and the quasi society of the day was disfigured by the
odious vice of deep and sottish drinking. Nevertheless, under
the reigns of the two first kings of Prussia, the rules of
morality were otherwise very strictly observed, at least, in
externals ; and the utmost deference and respect were paid to
religion. But enlightenment and civilization were making rapid
strides in all the principal European States ; and with them,
hand-in-hand, came their too frequent attendants, infidelity and
vice.

Already the French capital had established that autocracy of
taste and fashion over the rest of the European world, which it
has ever since maintained. In Berlin, from causes which will
be noticed as they occur, this ascendancy of French taste over
the national want of it, asserted itself in an extraordinary
degree. The simple German jackdaws imagined, that, by
adopting a few of that, gay bird's cast feathers, they should
become veritable peacocks, and strutted miserable, ragged
hybrids, neither German nor French.
* 12,000?. sterling.

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 25

So violent, at one time, was this Gallic mania, that one lady,
we are told, even sent to her agent des modes in Paris to pro-
cure her a young and handsome French husband, and Frederic
the Great congratulates himself and Prussia on the failure of
an experiment which might otherwise have reduced the neglected
male population of Berlin to another rape of the Sabines !

Meantime in Prussia, as in England, during the reigns of
our first Norman kings, French became the language of polite
life. The mother tongue, with all its stores of rude opulence,
an unwrought mine of goodly ore, was laid aside, as only fit to
express the peasant's homely meaning, or to give utterance to
his simple prayer ; while the gay lordling of the Court was
content to lisp, with barbarous accent, the borrowed verbiage of
a foreign tongue, whose barren superlatives had no power to
convey one tithe of the meaning of the deep and honest
German heart.

That strictness of morality and of religious observances,
which we have remarked upon as distinguishing the reigns of
Frederic I. and Frederic "William I., under the godless govern-
ment of Frederic the Great was not only relaxed, but suddenly
and altogether dissolved. The King whom the people loved,
the philosopher whom they admired, the hero whom they
deified, openly scoffed at religion, and declared that, in his
dominions, every man was free to erect his own standard of
morality. In the pride of his own strength, he forgot that the
multitude must have some great mainstay to which to cling,
some common standard round which to rally, if virtue and
order are to exist amongst them, even in name.

Ruthlessly then, by his own example, did he fling down the
mainstay of religion; wantonly did he trample on that standard
of morality, which his own passions were either too cold or too
well regulated to require ; whilst, by doing so, he rent asunder
all those bonds of social order which are dependent upon godli-
ness and virtue.

For a moment, the people were stunned by the fall of all

26 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

they were accustomed to venerate ; bewildered by the recoil of
the tense cords of discipline thus suddenly snapped asunder, —
and then, mad licence ran riot through all ranks.

Sloth, luxury and vice brought enervation, poverty and
disease in their train ; and Frederick the Great, towards the
close of his reign, stood a dismayed and perplexed spectator of
the consequences of his own rash and unholy presumption.

During the reign of his successor, all right feeling was at its
lowest ebb, and even decency itself was laughed to scorn ;
Malmesbury, in his Despatches, thus depicts the period closely
preceding the death of the great Frederic. " Berlin is a town,
where, if fortis may be translated honest, there is neither l vir
fortis nee foemina casta/ a total corruption of morals reigns
throughout both sexes, joined to penuriousness, caused partly
by the oppression of his present Majesty, and partly by the
expensive ideas they received from his grandfather ; thus con-
stituting the worst of human character."

Strangely enough, in the midst of the materialism and sen-
suality which debased this period of Prussian history, supersti-
tion and mysticism climbed upon the ruins of religion, and
built themselves a fantastic temple from the debris of the
stately pile; yet even the gibberings of these wan spectres of
the truth answered a salutary end, in that they directed men's
minds towards the great imperishable substance of which they
were the shadows, and thus prepared a faint track for the social
and religious reform of the next reign, when, beneath the fair
influence of the gentle, yet heroic queen, and her upright, God-
fearing husband, the foully-sullied tissue of the national
morality should —

' ' Like the stain' d web whitening in the sun,

Grow pure by being purely shone upon."

And when the diseased constitution of social and domestic life,
healed of its plague by the purifying influence of misfortune,
should rcassume its healthy, normal condition, and be once more
the pride and happiness of an honourable and munificent citi* **

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 27

zcnhood ; whilst from that sex whose corruption is the worst
symptom of a nation's decay, and who had been so lately stig-
matized as " harpies "* of the vilest description, should go forth
full many a noble and devoted lady, the prototypes of our own
Miss Nightingale, who should account it a privilege to dress
with their own white hands the wounds of the common soldier,
received in doing manful battle for the rights of the father-
land.

With these remarks I conclude the short outline of the
Prussian history and people, which I have thought it necessary
to give, before commencing a more detailed account of the
lives of the Prussian Queens.

* Malmesbury's Despatches.

LIFE OP

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE

FIRST QUEEN OF PRUSSIA.

RARELY, indeed, amongst the crowned dwellers of the world's
high places, does the pen of the historian find a character upon
which to dwell with so much complacency as upon that of
Sophia Charlotte, the first, equally well known as the " philo-
sophical/' or the " beautiful"* Queen of Prussia, the second
wife of Frederic III., Elector of Brandenburg, afterwards King
of Prussia.

To the English reader, the interest attaching to her is en-
hanced, by the fact, that she was descended from one of the
royal houses of England, the unfortunate race of Stuart ;
although upon that branch of the family of which she was a
member, fortune, tired of persecuting, seems to have lavished
her gifts with a prodigal hand.

Although, no doubt, the generality of my readers are well
acquainted with her family connections, yet it may be well,
before beginning a memoir of the life of Sophia Charlotte, to
take a rapid retrospective glance at the period when the history
of her house diverges from that of England.

Elizabeth, daughter of James I. of England, married Frede-
ric V. of Simmern, Elector Palatine, who, it is needless to state,
was elected to the throne of Bohemia ; her decided and ambi-
tious character no doubt greatly influenced her more timid

* Ertnan says in his dedication of his " Mem. pour servir a la Vie de la Reine
Sophie Charlotte," to Louisa of Mecklenburg Strelitz, Queen of Frederic William
the Third, " On ne pouvra pour 1'avenir la reconnaitre a la seule denomination de
' la belle reine' qui jusqu'ici suffisait pour la designer."

30 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

husband in his acceptance of the royal dignity, although upon
the authority of her declaration, that, " if he had not sufficient
self-reliance to accept a crown, he should not have wedded the
daughter of a king/" her grand-daughter, the Duchess of
Orleans, casts a doubt. This Princess, with far more than her
father's talent and strength of mind, inherited his love of
learning to its fullest extent; a linguist, equally conversant
with the languages of ancient and modern times, she had
even ventured into the more abstruse regions of philosophy, and
her acquirements are described as fitted to adorn a man, so
varied and so solid was her learning.

She followed her husband, after his fall, into Holland, where
he found a refuge at the Court of Maurice, Prince of Orange,
and where, until his death in 1628, vain hopes of recovering
his lost possessions still flattered the exiled prince. His widow,
still called Elizabeth of Bohemia, during her residence first at
the Hague, and afterwards at Ehenen in the province of
Utrecht, devoted herself assiduously to the education of her
daughters, upon whom — as might be expected from the vehe-
mence of her character and the strength of her passions —
her care was more judiciously exerted with regard to intel-
lectual, than moral training. Wherever she resided she
speedily formed around her a circle into which the charm of
her intellect attracted much of the talent and the learning
of the day; yet, after the reinstatement of her son Charles
as Elector Palatine, we find her, with her ruling passions, a
restless ambition, and craving for personal power, still destined
to remain unsatisfied, once more in London, where she died
in 1662.

Of the thirteen children who were the fruits of her union
with the unfortunate Frederic, I shall only notice those who
were distinguished by character or position. The eldest son
was drowned on the coast of Holland; the second, as we
have seen, became Elector Palatine; the third, Edward, who
as well as several of his brothers, was obliged to seek a main-

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 31

tenance in a foreign service, settled in France, where he
embraced the Roman Catholic religion. The gallant Prince
Rupert we find maintaining the cause of his house in the civil
wars in England, whilst one of his brothers sat in the republi-
can parliament. Philip fell in battle at the age of twenty-three
years. There were four daughters, the character of the eldest
of whom, Elizabeth, requires a somewhat longer notice. Endowed
with more than her mother's intellectual gifts, but with little
of her ambition, her sole passion and pursuit was knowledge;
whilst still in her childhood she was acquainted with six differ-
ent languages ; and the literature, oratory, and poetry of these
not sufficing for the increasing demands of her mental avidity
in maturer years, she eagerly embraced the philosophy of
Descartes, (then entering upon the zenith of his celebrity,)
and thus excited the jealousy of the masculine Christina of
Sweden, who could not tolerate the philosopher's expressed
admiration of his fair disciple's talents, nor the pure and
elevated intercourse and friendship which subsisted between
them. Did space permit, I might dwell at far greater length
on the character of this gifted lady, who, having fallen under
her mother's displeasure, and innocently incurred her suspi-
cions of being privy to her brother Philip's designs against
the favourite L'Epinay, was discarded by her, and, after various
wanderings, at length found a refuge, and leisure for the
full enjoyment of her literary pursuits, as Abbess of Herford
in Westphalia. Louisa Hollandina, the second daughter,
sought the protection of Louis XIV., and embracing the
Roman Catholic faith at the same time with her younger
brother Edward, became Abbess of Maubuisson, and during
the latter part of her life was as much famed for her austerities,
as she had been for the gallantry of her youth.

The third, Henrietta Maria, married Sigismund Ragoczy,
Prince of Transylvania. The fourth was Sophia, in whose
character were happily blended the opposite tendencies of this
richly-gifted race, in whom the strong passions of the one

32 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

part of her family were tempered down into a healthy vi-
vacity and innocent love of pleasure, whilst the undue intel-
lectual excitement of the other, in her, became only the
legitimate activity of a well-balanced mind. Chevreau, speak-
ing of her in common with her sisters, says that "no finer
minds, and no more deeply-learned persons than these, were to
be found."

Her attractions made a deep impression upon Ferdinand,
King of Home, brother of Leopold, afterwards emperor; but
the untimely death of the suitor prevented the marriage
taking place, and in 1568 Sophia became the wife of Prince
Ernest Augustus of Hanover, the youngest of the four brothers
of that family. His father and uncles had in youth made the
singular compact, that to maintain the position of their house,
only one of their number should marry, and that one should
be decided by lot. The lot fell upon George, the sixth brother,
who consequently married, and became the father of Ernest
Augustus ; and so well did the other brothers maintain their
agreement, that Achmet I. said it would repay the journey only
to see them.* It was in consequence of this compact that
Ernest Augustus became, subsequently, Duke of Hanover. He
was pleasing in person, generous and kind in his various rela-
tions, and brave in his personal character. In 1662 he was
invested with the ecclesiastical principality (Fiirstbisthum) of
Osnabruek, agreeably to the peculiar conditions of the treaty
of Westphalia, by which it was stipulated that a Roman
Catholic and a Protestant Bishop should alternately hold pos-
session of the see, and that the latter should always be a prince
of the House of Hanover.

Although at the time of their marriage neither Ernest
Augustus nor Sophia had any great expectations, indeed fifty
prior claims are said to have intervened between the latter and
the throne of her ancestors, yet he, in course of time, became
duke, and subsequently Elector of Hanover ; whilst Sophia was
* " The Georgian Era."

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE.

ultimately called to the succession of the throne of England,
and had she survived but a few months longer, her name would
have stood enrolled amidst the list of the sovereigns of our
island.

The first child of this union was George I. of England, the
fourth was Sophia Charlotte, the future Queen of Prussia, the
subject of this memoir. She was born at the Castle of Iburg,
in the diocese of Osnabruck, on the 10th of October, 1668.
Upon this, her bnly daughter, Sophia lavished the utmost ten-
derness of a mother's heart, and delightedly occupied herself
in forming the mind of her beautiful child, and storing it with
the first seeds of that rich and abundant knowledge which was
afterwards to render her the admiration of Europe. And very
amply was her maternal solicitude repaid by the tender and
life-long affection of her daughter, whom it is pleasant to find
in after life, during her frequent visits to Hanover, escaping
from the tiresome ceremonial of her own Court, to take refuge
in her mother's loving arms, and in the unrestrained freedom
of her early home. Sophia's choice of a governess for her
young daughter was justified by her own intimate knowledge
of, and friendship for the Frau von Harling, to whose charge she
had already committed the education of her niece Elizabeth
Charlotte (who had been entrusted by her father, the Elector
Charles Louis, to his sister's care, and who in 1671 became
Duchess of Orleans). Aided by this lady Sophia proceeded to
carry out a system of education, in the course of which, besides
French, the young Princess was instructed in English and
Latin, and also in music, for which she had a passionate love,
and in which she afterwards excelled both as a performer and
a composer. Even as a child, her eager thirst for knowledge,
and the germ of her future tendency to philosophical research,
was shown by her earnest inquiries into the nature and causes
of things, a peculiarity which still marked her mind in its
maturity, when we find Leibnitz reproaching her with her wish
to know the " Pourquoi du pourquoi." The happiest part of

MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Sophia Charlotte's life, her carefully and lovingly-guarded
childhood and early youth, passed but too rapidly amidst the
pleasant gardens of Herrenhausen, her mother's residence.

In 1679 Ernest Augustus, by the death of his brother, was
unexpectedly called to the succession of the duchy of Hanover,
and from this period his Court became one of far greater pre-
tensions than heretofore. By virtue of this inheritance also,
the celebrated Leibnitz became his subject, an acquisition in
itself invaluable to the then Court of Hanover, and more espe-
cially so to the young Princess, whose rapidly developing powers
were still further stimulated by her intercourse with this great
man.

After the peace of Nimeguen, in the year 1680, Ernest
Augustus, accompanied by his wife and daughter, made a
journey to Italy, to be present at the carnival at Venice. The
effect of this visit to a land, so rich in objects of art and
classical interest, upon a mind like that of Sophia Charlotte,
may be easily conceived; it refined her taste, and matured
her judgment in matters of art, and fostered the love of music
already so strong in her. The subsequent residence of the
Abbate Hortensius Mauro at her father's Court maintained in
her mind the taste for the fine arts thus engendered,

In the summer of 1681, at the baths of Pyrmont, took
place her first meeting with Frederic, electoral Prince of
Brandenburg, who had brought thither his wife, Elizabeth
Christina of Hesse Cassel, for the benefit of her health, which
was then in a declining state. Even then it appears that
Frederic was struck with the beauty and rising talent of the
young Princess of Hanover.

In the winter of 1682 she visited Berlin with her parents,
at the invitation of the great Elector, whom policy, as well as
family connections, led to keep on good terms with the house
of Brunswick.

In 1683 took place the journey of Sophia and her daughter
to France, whither the former's affectionate attachment to her

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 35

sister, the Abbess of Maubuisson, and her nieces, the Duchess
of Orleans and the Princess of Conde, (daughter of her brother
Edward and the Princess of Gonzaga,) had long attracted her;
and the year which they spent at the French Court was passed
in the fullest enjoyment of the resumption of these family ties.

The Duchess of Orleans, who, proud of her German origin,
and still speaking and writing her German mother tongue,
appears, amidst the shameless immorality of the French Court,
to have led a life of unswerving rectitude, though her letters
partake but too strongly of the licence of the age, gives so
naive a description of her own personal appearance that I cannot
here do better than quote it. "I cannot fail to be very ugly ; I
have little eyes, a short, thick nose, long thin lips, great hang-
ing cheeks, arid a large face; yet I am of very small stature,
short and fat : sum total, I am a little fright. If I had not a
good heart no one could endure me. To know whether my
eyes give promise of esprit, it would be necessary to examine
them with a microscope, or spectacles, otherwise it would be
difficult to judge." She also, together with some rather start-
ling anecdotes, furnishes a few traits of the character of the
Abbess of Maubuisson. " She was amiable and agreeable to
the highest degree ; I was never weary whilst with her. I
asked her how she could tolerate the monastic life. She
answered, laughing, ' I only speak to the nuns to give them
my orders/ She had a deaf nun in her room in order to pre-
vent the necessity of speaking. She said that having always
liked a country life, she could now quite fancy herself a country
girl. ( But,' asked I, ' how about getting up in the night to
go into the church ? ' She answered with a smile that ' Painters
use the shadows to throw out the lights of their pictures/
This lady was herself a painter of no mean order-; in her
seventy-seventh year she painted the Golden Calf of Poussin,
for her sister Sophia. She used to present her pictures to
her own abbey and the churches in the neighbourhood.

At the age of eighty she could still see to read the

D 2

36

MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

smallest print without spectacles, and had " all her teeth,
though worn out, in her head." She died in 1709, aged
eighty-six.

The Court of France in its then existing state was, perhaps,
the vilest sink of iniquity in the world ; yet hither it was the
fashion to send the ripening youth of Germany to form their
manners and their taste, and even Sophia of Hanover did
not hesitate to expose the fresh mind of her young daughter
to the influence of this polluted atmosphere ; fortunately the
virgin soil thus hazarded was too pure for the growth of the
rank weeds of French fashionable vice, and Sophia Charlotte re-
turned to Hanover uncontaminated by the taint of evil example.
Nevertheless, this sojourn at the French Court gave the young
Princess a decided preference for the apparent refinement and the
polish, superficial though it might be, of the French manners
and language, and caused her to hail with delight the society of
French refugees which greeted her on her arrival at Berlin.
Her beauty, wit, and freshness seem to have created quite a
sensation among the blase courtiers of Versailles ; Louis XIV.
himself was delighted with her, and expressed his wish to
provide her with a French husband ; Pollnitz and Erman say
that the Dauphin was to have been the husband in question,
but as the Dauphiness was then living, and did not die until
1690, that could scarcely have been the case; this also makes
it unnecessary that the journey already mentioned to the
carnival at Venice should have been undertaken by Ernest
Augustus, as the former states, with the kind intention of con-
soling his wife and daughter for the disappointment of their
French matrimonial views. It is said that Frederic the Great
supposed the Duke of Burgundy, the second Dauphin, to have
been the destined husband ; but it seems more likely that no par-
ticular person was fixed upon, although there is no reason to
doubt that both mother and daughter would have favoured a
French alliance; the plan was however, probably on political
grounds, suffered to drop.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 37

In the spring of the year 1684 Sophia and her daughter
returned to Hanover, and Ernest Augustus, but this time unac-
companied by the fair companions of his former journey, made
another visit to Italy, having engaged to assist in supplying
money to defray the expenses of a war in which Venice had
just engaged with the Turks ; it was possibly owing to the
absence of his former safeguard that he spent all the money
he had destined for that purpose in magnificent entertainments,
especially musical ones ; but as there is no evil without its
concomitant good, so the Italian Opera, which his prudent
minister forthwith established at Hanover, to prevent the
recurrence of foreign temptations of the kind, may possibly be
thus regarded.

Sophia Charlotte's matrimonial prospects began now to
form a subject of serious discussion between her parents, and
Frederic, the electoral Prince of Brandenburg, having recently
become a widower, policy and family connections, as is but too
frequently the case in other than royal marriages, formed an
overbalancing weight in their deliberations. Even the Duchess
Sophia, though the Prince was in no respect calculated for the
husband of her beautiful and talented daughter, and though
loving her child intensely as we have seen, thought the match
most desirable. Accordingly, when Otto von Grote, the Hano-
verian Ambassador at Berlin, returned to negotiate the marriage,
the Prussian proposals were well received.

In vain did Frederic's stepmother, the Electress Dorothea of
Holstein Gliicksburg interpose her usual mischievous inter-
ference ; the electoral Prince arrived at Hanover in September,
1684, his father, the great Elector, being detained at Berlin
by a fit of gout. The betrothal of the young couple speedily
followed. I believe it was during the festivities attendant upon
this occasion that a ring worn by Frederic in memory of his
deceased wife, with the device of clasped hands and the motto,
" A jamais," suddenly broke, which was looked upon as an
omen that this union likewise was to be of short duration.

38 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

I will now pause to give a description of the bride and
bridegroom, as we naturally feel more at home with a character,
the fashion of whose outward covering is known to us.

The Princess Sophia Charlotte was of the middle height,
her complexion dazzlingly fair ; she had large, soft, blue eyes,
" eyebrows that seemed drawn by the compass," a well-propor-
tioned nose, a lovely mouth, and perfect teeth, a profusion of
raven-black hair, and the most beautiful neck and shoulders in
the world ; her form rounded in youth, in later life inclined
somewhat to embonpoint; she was now on the eve of com-
pleting her sixteenth year, was agreeable and witty in conver-
sation, sang and played well, danced with much grace, and
" knew what very few persons were acquainted with in an age
so little advanced as that."*

Her affianced husband, Frederic, was now twenty-seven
years of age : when in his infancy, his nurse had let him fall
from her arms, the consequence of which infantine misfortune
was now apparent in his weakly constitution, his small stature,
and his deformity, to hide which as far as possible he wore a
large peruke. The same cause may also account for his
tendency to melancholy and nervous irritability. He had been
carefully educated, contrary to the usual fortune of princes,
and owing, perhaps, to his not being the heir apparent ; for his
elder brother, the high-spirited Carl Emil, who announced
that " all who studied and learned Latin were fools/' was a fine
healthy young man, and there seemed but little probability
that the puny Frederic, even should he survive his sickly
childhood, would ever be called to inherit the electoral dignity ;
but during the French campaign of 1674 the hopeful, though
fiery and impetuous young electoral Prince was seized with a
violent fever, of which he died at Strasbourg, at the age of
nineteen ; and thenceforth the eyes of the nation were turned
solicitously towards the younger brother, upon whom, at the

* Vehse in his Preusz. Hof. quotes the Mercure galant for a description of
Sophia Charlotte. Toland also describes her in his Tour.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 39

same time, the reversion of the dignity of electoral Prince
drew the invidious attention of his stepmother ; and her mis-
representations of him to his father, with whom it was her
constant endeavour to embroil him, no doubt increased the
tendency to rnoodiness and suspicion which marked his weak
and easily biassed character. Weak I have said he was, and
when I add that he was one to whom the sacrifice, which
princes are called upon to make of the pleasures of domestic
happiness, was not a painful one, who delighted in pomp and
parade for its own sake, whose life was a series of ceremonies,
without the inner reality which can alone make the outward
symbols tolerable, it will at once be apparent how little he was
fitted to fill the nearest and dearest of relationships to the
warm-hearted, affectionate, and highly-gifted Sophia Charlotte,
who, as Pollnitz says, was led to the altar a victim to the
policy of her parents. Nevertheless, to do Frederic justice,
through all his ostentation and display, a real love for his
people and devotion to their interests may frequently be traced ;
and in his private capacity he was, though passionate, easily
appeased, though fickle and of no great depth of affection, not
difficult to live with, and had not Sophia Charlotte despised
the part which his favourites unscrupulously adopted, of ma-
naging him by his weaknesses, she might have governed both
him and his dominions entirely : but she had little ambition to
rule, especially if it must be done by meanness and intrigue ;
and I shall have to record no interference of hers in state
affairs, save when, once or twice, her influence was employed
at the formal and repeated request of her husband and his
minister.

On Sunday the 8th of October (N.S.), 1684, at Herren-
hausen, the Princess of Hanover having renounced her pro-
fession of the Lutheran for the Reformed Faith, which was
that of Frederic, her marriage with the " Prussian jflEsop," as
she used afterwards to call him, was solemnized with much
magnificence : the Mercure Galant of December, 1684, has

40 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

left us a description of the ceremony, which I abbreviate, in
order not to weary the patience of my readers.

There were six services, which not unnaturally appeared very
tedious to the Prince ; and the Princess, though charming all
eyes by her modesty and beauty, was so incommoded by the
length of the ceremony, added to the weight of her sumptuous
apparel, and of the crown of pearls and diamonds which she
wore, that the bridegroom, observing her change colour,
anxiously begged the Duchess, her mother, to relieve her of
these burdens ; she was accordingly led away to her own apart-
ment, and shortly afterwards reconducted, for the completion of
the solemnity, attired in a deshabille, consisting of a simarre of
gold brocade and flame-colour, in which " simple ornament she
looked even lovelier than before." On the 10th of October,
the sixteenth birthday of Sophia Charlotte, took place the
solemn entry of the bride and bridegroom into Hanover. A
ball on the evening of the same day was opened by the cere-
mony of the Torch dance, an ancient custom preserved in
Germany on the occasion of royal marriages ; it was performed
in the following manner : —

Six gentlemen of the Court of Hanover, and six gentlemen
of the electoral Prince's train, each holding a lighted flambeau
of wax, six feet long, formed a procession. The bride and
bridegroom placed themselves in the centre, and led off the
dance; the Duke of Hanover then took the place of the
electoral Prince, and the Duchess that of the Princess, whilst
the Prince of Hanover took that of the Duke, and so on in
rotation, till everybody had changed places with everybody else.
This dance, which lasted for two hours, was performed to the
sound of trumpets, violins not being admitted.

A week after this torch dance Frederic returned to Berlin,
his bride accompanying him only as far as Burgsdorf, where the
Duke of Zell gave a banquet in their honour; she then returned
to Hanover, where she remained with her mother for six weeks
longer, before she rejoined her husband ; and there let us leave

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 41

her, while we take a short survey of the State and Court of
Berlin, her future residence.

It has been before stated that on the accession of Frederic
William, the great Elector, in 1640, he found his territory
devastated by the ravages of hostile troops, and its resources
drained by the terrible Thirty Years' War; his capital in
ruins, the greater part of the houses, which were built of wood,
abandoned for the want of inhabitants; the population decreased
to between six and seven thousand; the streets unpaved, the
bridges out of repair ; public buildings there were few or none.
The remaining inhabitants gained a livelihood by keeping
and fattening cattle, the state of the streets may therefore be
more easily imagined than described. Before the door of each
house were uncleansed stables, tainting the air with the most
intolerable effluvia. Like Paris, in the time when the eldest
son of Louis le Gros met his death by a pig's running between
his horse's legs, the streets swarmed with these animals, and
were impassable from the accumulations of filth and refuse
caused by them ; and even so late as the year 1671, a decree
was passed ordaining that every peasant who came to market,
should, on his return, carry away with him a cart-load of these
abominations ; and the law forbidding the citizens any longer
to feed or fatten cattle within the precincts of the town was
not passed until ten years later.

Under the roof of the electoral palace were comprised, not
only the mint, and the courts of justice, but also the prisons,
and even the place of execution, until, in 1648, the Elector ex-
pressed his determination no longer to have prisoners within
the walls that sheltered himself and his family.

Happily for the great Elector, when the plague broke out in
Brandenburg in 1634, he had been sent into Holland,* where a
prospect, widely different from the narrow horizon which limited
the Court of his weak-minded father, opened upon his view. In

* See Introductory Chapter.

42 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

the midst of a land which had won, and still maintained its
cherished freedom by its own heroic efforts, what better school
could have been found for that expanding mind, which was one
day to wrest from unwilling Europe the materials for a new and
powerful kingdom ?

From the time that Frederic William left the death-bed of
his father, to become his successor, his life was one vast effort
for the accomplishment of his great end — the amelioration and
aggrandizement of his people and his country.

The peace of Westphalia gave him leisure, amongst other
reforms, to improve the state of the capital, to which end he
employed Giromela, Roe Guerin, and others of the most cele-
brated architects of the day ; and so far had he succeeded in his
object, that Patin, a French traveller, in 1672, describes the
sight of Berlin as alone repaying him for all his fatigues, and
that town itself as " une ouverture au ciel d'ou le soleil faisait
sentir ses rayons & ce territoire."

Nor must I omit here to mention the great and beneficial
effect produced about this time, by the settlement of great
numbers of French religious refugees in Berlin. Whilst Louis
XIV., giving way to that intolerant spirit which shortly after-
wards dictated the revocation of the edict of Nantes, was thus
depopulating France of her best and most industrious subjects,
Prussia was profiting in a fully equal ratio, in return for the
asylum which she afforded to the Huguenots.

Here, as in other places, where similar colonizations took
place, the introduction of various kinds of industry marked the
footsteps of the emigrants; and Berlin, which, a few years
before, had been so unimportant a town, that the tourist thought
it not worth while to turn out of his road to visit it, now with
her beautiful public buildings, her manufactures of silk and
woollen, her fabrics of gold, silver, leather and porcelain, began
to assume the state of a nourishing city of no mean commercial
importance.

Some writers ascribe to the French immigration and conse-

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 43

quent mixture of races, almost as great an influence upon the
people of Prussia, as that which the Norman Conquest exercised
upon our Anglo-Saxon forefathers in England ; at all events,
the result was soon perceptible enough, in the general adoption
of the French language and manners, and, I fear we must add,
vices also, in many cases. This is the less surprising, if we
reflect, that, when immediately after the revocation of the edict
of Nantes, Frederic William formally offered the Huguenots a
refuge in his dominions, the number who took advantage of
his invitation amounted to twenty thousand, and that, therefore,
although the number of the inhabitants had increased three-
fold since 1640, certainly near half of the population of Berlin
must have been French.

Of course the effects of such an ingress of foreigners could
not be wholly beneficial ; many of them were the merely idle
and curious, who preferred begging to taking up any trade ;
and probably the first seeds of that terrible deterioration of
manners and morals, which we shall have occasion to notice in
the next century, may be traced back to this period ; for though
the generality of the French Huguenots affected even a somewhat
austere demeanour, — to distinguish themselves yet the more
from the Roman Catholics of the Court, the licentiousness of
whose manners was the scandal of Europe, — and though Frederic
William in 1686 passed a decree, which was again enforced by
both his son and grandson, forbidding his subjects to send
children, in compliance with the existing French mania, to
learn the (< great airs " of the Court of France, and many
worse things besides, yet, even so soon afterwards as 1698
appeared a publication with the title " The German French
Mania, whoso reads will understand," protesting with strong
conservative and patriotic disgust, against the encroachments of
the French fashions, and the "proud, false, and licentious
French spirit, which, as erst the serpent lulled our first parents
in Paradise, with caressing words and flattering speech/' was
luring on the Prussians to the destruction of their " dear

44 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

German freedom." It also laments the already prevalent
foreign vices which disfigured the primitive simplicity of the
German manners, whilst it ridicules with broad humour the
absurd spirit of imitation which prevailed in all classes, and
which, supposing a suitor to be arrayed in French hat and vest,
would atone in his fair lady's eyes for a " crooked hawk's nose,
calf s eyes and a hump," and make even bandy legs tolerable
so long as they were clad in French " fashionable stockings."

But to return to Sophia Charlotte. She was accompanied
by her mother and eldest brother, (the future king of England,)
on her journey to Berlin, where she arrived on the 2nd of No-
vember, and the next day entered the city in state with her
husband. She was cordially received by her father-in-law, the
great Elector, who during the short remainder of his life always
testified the utmost kindness and affection for her. She also
maintained a footing of at least apparent friendliness with the
Electress, whose character is not painted in the brightest of
colours by the historians of the day. She was even accused of
having administered poison to the electoral Prince himself, in a
cup of coffee, and to his brother Louis in an orange, presented
to him at a ball given at her residence, in order to make way
for her own favourite son, Philip William of Schwedt.

But though Prince Louis did die suddenly, and though
sundry unpleasant allusions were made to the actions of Agrip-
pina and Locusta in the rumours with which the gossip of the
time was rife, yet, as these accusations have been perpetuated
by the pens of those who, for family reasons, bore no good-will
to the memory of the Electress, we may at least hope that they
were unfounded, more especially, as the same writers allow, that
although she did not belie the commonly-received idea of a
stepmother's love, at least she was a virtuous wife, and a tender
mother to her own children. She had great influence over the
Elector, in the then weak and declining state of his health.
His descendant, Frederic the Great, speaks of him as having
"no weaknesses, save for wine and his wife." This latter

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 45

foible applies, no doubt, to Dorothea, and not to Louisa of
Orange, of whose pure and elevated character a sketch has
already been given.

The only occasion on which the Electress Dorothea seriously
interfered in the affairs of Sophia Charlotte was at the period
of an accouchement, probably her first, to which T shall have
occasion presently to refer.

The electoral Prince had now a separate residence, household,
and body-guard allotted to him. Of his domestic life with
Sophia Charlotte but little can be said, as though troubled by
no quarrels, it was at the same time brightened by no affection.
The marriage, as we have seen, was not one of inclination, on
her side at least, nor does any attachment, as is sometimes the
case, appear to have resulted. She was uniformly cold and
reserved in her intercourse with him, perhaps because, with her
usual sincerity, she feared leading him to imagine that she
felt any greater warmth of sentiment than really existed for
him in her heart ; and he, who had admired her beauty,
and felt for her, at first, as strong a passion as his nature
was capable of, finding that his advances met with no return,
soon likewise subsided into indifference. It is to be feared
that her feeling for him partook at length more of the nature
of contempt than of this merely negative quality, for upon one
occasion, at a later period, when Leibnitz had sent her a paper
upon " les infiniment petits," she is said to have exclaimed,
"Does he think that the wife of Frederic I. can need a
dissertation upon 'infinite littleness ? ' "*

Differing then, as the husband and wife did, in every senti-
ment, it is not surprising that they soon seldom met, save upon
state occasions ; and after the death of Frederic William, such
innovations had Sophia Charlotte made upon the primitive

* Thiebault in his "Mem. de Vingt Ans de Sejour & Berlin," gives this anec-
dote, but a letter from Sophia Charlotte to Mile. Pb'llnitz contains the following
passage : u Dernierement Leibnitz m'a fait une dissertation sur les infiniments
petits, qui mieux que moi, ma chere, est au fait de ces etres ?"

46 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

customs of the Court of Berlin, that those who were leaving a
soiree of the Electress were just in time for the levee of the
Elector. The French colony, as it was called, at Berlin, where
many persons of high education and great superiority of intel-
lect were to be found, was a great resource to Sophia Charlotte ;
and with a woman's ready sympathy for misfortune superadded
to her enjoyment of their society, she speedily drew around her
a circle of these illustrious exiles, and fixed certain days for
receiving them at her residence of Liitzelburg, when all court
ceremony was laid aside, and the ladies were expected to appear
dressed in black, to avoid the expense of less simple attire.
Card-playing was interdicted on these occasions, needlework
and conversation being the occupation and amusement of the
day, whilst French was the only language spoken. It is related
that one of the most distinguished of the emigrants, hearing
the Princess conversing with so pure an accent in his own lan-
guage, asked the historian Gregorio Leti, (likewise a religious
refugee,) whether she could speak German.

The timefor the electoral Princess's approaching confinement*
being now at hand (1686), she most earnestly desired to be at
Hanover with her mother during that period ; but to this very
natural wish the Electress Dorothea opposed her ill oifices with
the Elector, and the projected journey appears to have become a
flight, and that undertaken at so late a period, that the Princess
was taken ill and obliged to stop upon the road, at no great
distance from Berlin, and being taken into the house of a
village schoolmaster, there gave birth to a son. The child
was baptized three days afterwards at Berlin, by a name, the
uncertainty of which is of small moment, as it only lived
three months.

In the following year, 1687, took place the death of the
unfortunate Prince Louis, to which we have before alluded, and
which so greatly increased the unpopularity of the Electress.

* Several historians differ as to whether this episode took place at this or a sub-
sequent accouchement. I have followed Varnhagen von Ense.

SOPHIA CHAELOTTE. 47

He had married a rich Polish princess of the house of Rade-
zwil, in opposition to his stepmother's wish that he should take
to wife a niece of her own ; (who subsequently became Duchess
of Holstein Beck.) This lady had the credit of presenting
him with the particularly fine orange which was reported to
have caused his death.

Sophia Charlotte this year accompanied her husband to
Leipzig, and it was during this visit that she is said so cruelly
to have bewildered the erudite Carpzow, by speaking to him of
more books, with the contents, as well as titles of which she
appeared to be perfectly familiar, than that learned man could
remember having even heard of. An anecdote is also related
of her, that another very learned man, having long and vainly
sought for the name of a place upon the map of Asia, she quickly
solved his difficulty by showing it to him upon that of Africa.

On the 16th of February, 1688, the last birthday of the great
Elector, his indisposition assumed an alarming character, and it
soon became evident that his days were numbered. During
the latter part of his illness he dismissed the Electress from her
attendance upon him, and desired that his son Frederic and
Sophia Charlotte should remain with him till his death, which
took place in the month of May. The electoral Prince left
Potsdam, the usual residence of the Elector, for Berlin the
same evening. Freytag, the Austrian ambassador, had set off
to Potsdam, to congratulate him upon his accession, but found
the gates of the capital closed against all egress. This was
probably the first time that an Austrian ambassador had ever
experienced the possibility of a door being closed upon him in
the electorate of Brandenburg.

The new Elector received the oaths of fealty on the 14th,
and very different was the inheritance to which he succeeded,
from the barren waste of sand and fir trees, depopulated towns,
and poverty-stricken peasantry which had been the patrimony
of his father ; and fortunate, indeed, for him, and for the
country was it, that he succeeded Frederic William, and not

48 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

George William, or Brandenburg would have still been in the
eighteenth century the same petty principality which it was in
the beginning of the seventeenth ; and Frederic the Great would,
in all probability, have been but little in a condition either to
wrest Silesia from the hands of the Empress queen, or having
done so, to stand, as he did, alone against the attack of the
combined powers of Europe.

But now, with trade and cultivation in a comparatively
flourishing state, and with finances which were able to supply
even the boundless expenses of his craving for magnificence,
the Elector Frederic III. may be said to have commenced his
reign under the most flattering auspices.

Amongst his first acts was one dictated by a spirit of
forgiveness which it would be unjust not to notice. In spite
of her past attempts against him, he gave orders that the
utmost deference and respect should be paid to the Electress
Dowager, and arranged with great care for the settlement of
her daughters. She only survived her husband about one
year.

To Sophia Charlotte the change in her position perhaps made
almost less difference than to any other person concerned in it.
For power she had no wish, and save that her court was
enlarged, and that she had to endure more of the tedium of
court ceremony, she made but little change in her manner of
life.

Amongst the ladies of her train, she was fortunate in num-
bering one whom she regarded in the light of a most intimate
friend. This was the Fraulein Pollnitz, the cousin of the
tourist,* who describes her as nearly equalling her mistress in
beauty and wit, and as possessing a highly-cultivated mind ;
and although the Margravine of Baireuth does describe her as

* The Baron de Pollnitz, Gentleman of the Chamber and Chamberlain during
the reigns of the three first kings of Prussia, and author of "Mem. pour servir
a 1'Hist. des quatres derniers Souverains de Brand ebourg, " and of a tour through
most of the countries of Europe. I shall have occasion to refer to him frequently
in the ensuing history.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 49

intriguing, venomous of tongue, and having but three little
foibles, " the love of play, men and wine/' yet as this less flat-
tering description was made in 1722, when, as the Duchess of
Orleans says of the same lady, she had fully tried St. Paul's
maxim, that he who marries does well, but he who marries not
does better; and as the occasion on which the Margravine
became acquainted with her was one upon which Mademoiselle
Pollnitz was despatched from Hanover, on the invidious errand
of ascertaining whether that Princess was crooked, pock-
marked, and a fool, whilst she seemed very much inclined to
discover those defects, whether they existed or not, we shall pro-
bably not err in supposing the Margravine's graphic picture of
her to be a little caricatured. However this may be, Fraulein
Pb'llnitz was indispensable to Sophia Charlotte ; even Fraulein
Billow, though likewise a great favourite, had only " de ce gros
bon sens qui ne marche qu'en bottes fortes/'* and could not
compensate for the absence of La Pollnitz, with her subtle wit,
and her keen sense of the ridiculous, which enabled her to find
food for laughter with her mistress, in the petty vexations and
absurdities which annoyed the latter when deprived of this
resource ; a lively correspondence was therefore kept up during
any temporary absence of the maid of honour from her post,
as a specimen of which I will transcribe part of the same letter
from which I have just quoted. " Certain philosophe abhorre
le vide, et moi chere Pollnitz le plein. J'avais hier k ma cour
deux dames, La B — et la Y, grosses jusqu'aux dents, maussades
jusqu'au sommet et sottes jusqu'aux talons. Mais, ma chere,
soupgonnez-vous que Dieu en creant de telles especes les forma
a son image ? — Non, il fit un moule tout expres et tres different
pour nous apprendre le prix des graces et de la beaute par com-
paraison. Si vous trouvez ceci mechant, je sais a qui je
m'adresse ; a bon chat, bon rat. — Comme mon esprit est monte
aujourd'hui mechamment, il faut poursiiivre. J'ai vu deux
benets d'etrangers ; si 1'or, les galons et les franges denotaient

* Letter of Sophia Charlotte to La Pollnitz.

E

50 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

le merite, rien n'egal egalerait le leur. Mais comme je respecte
peu F opulence, j'ai apprecie leur juste valeur; je comprends que
Paspect des grands peut intimider, et oter a Pesprit la facilite de
briller et de paraitre, et alors j'encourage. Mais lorsque la
fatuite s'en mele, et que la presomption et la sottise veulent
usurper ^approbation due au vrai merite, je suis impitoyable, et
je ne fais grace sur rien. Que la defiance sur ce que nous
valons est estimable, mais cette vertu est rare ! Ne croyons
nous pas toujours de valoir quelques carats de plus que
d'autres ? La vilaine chose que Forgueil, et pourtant ce senti-
ment est notre plus fidele compagnon. Grand Leibnitz que tu
dis sur ce sujet de belles choses ! Tu plais, tu persuades, mais
tu ne corriges pas — Je suis en train de moraliser, et le concert
commence. Le nouveau chanteur doit chanter. Sa reputation
Pa precede : s'il la soutient, que je vais passer agreablement
mon temps ! Adieu, adieu, quoi, vous m'arretez quand la
musique m'attend ! Je sacrifie Famie aux talens. Adieu, vous
dis-je, et cela sans appel.

" Deux mots, ma chere Pollnitz ; envoyez ces diamans pour
mon brasselet a la Liebman.* Je lui ai donne mes ordres pour la
fa9on. Je n'ai guere de temps ; Madame PElectricef est arrivee.
Que d' etiquettes k observer ! Ce n'est pas que je haisse le faste,
mais je le voudrais independent de la gene — mais que ne vou-
drais-je pas, et surtout vous, qui me manquez essentiellement !

" On vous promet certain prince : tant pis et tant mieux; je
me jette dans mon lit. Adieu, bon soir, qu'on tire le rideau,
votre reine, votre amie s'endort."

This letter belongs to a later period than that at which I
have inserted it; it is without date, and is one of those for
which Erman was indebted to Frederic William II., who
allowed him to have access to all the still existing corre-
spondence of Sophia Charlotte.

In the beginning of August, (the exact date is given differ-

* Wife of Liebman, the court jeweller, a Jew.
t Probably her mother.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 51

ently by different authors,) of the same year in which the great
Elector died, occurred the birth of a new electoral Prince, after-
wards King Frederic William I., an event which was hailed with
the greatest delight by the people, whose hopes of an heir had
now been several times disappointed. Public rejoicings took
place both in Berlin and Hanover, and the Duchess Sophia
herself, hastened over to the bedside of her daughter ; so eager
was she to behold her grandson, that she scarcely waited to
embrace the mother, before she repeatedly asked for the child,
and when the healthy, strong-limbed boy was put into her arms,
she smothered him with kisses, laughing and crying at the same
time, and would scarcely allow him to be taken from her again.
The Elector testified his joy in the way in which all his emo-
tions seemed to have found utterance, by a series of very splen-
did public entertainments. The following year, after a journey
to Halle to receive the homage of that town, Frederic, accom-
panied by the Electress, set off to join his troops, which, in
execution of his compact with William of Orange, were assem-
bled upon the Rhine. Sophia Charlotte made a deviation from
the route to visit Hanover, rejoining the Elector at Wesel.

During the ensuing warlike operations, and the siege of
Bonn, she resided at Cologne, whence she made several excur-
sions, on one of which she visited the Princess Mary of Orange
at the Hague, and from this period commenced a sustained
correspondence between the two ladies.

One of the events which took place during the siege of Bonn
was the death of the Electress Dowager, a loss which few seem
to have lamented.

Asfeld, who commanded for Louis XIV., and had bravely
held out Bonn to the last, having been obliged to capitulate,
the Elector returned to Berlin in November, and indulged in a
triumphal entry and a succession of fetes, which were a delight
to his own heart and a weariness to that of his wife.

It was about this time that an accident befell Frederic whilst
hunting, which confined him for some days to his bed ; and as

E 2

52 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Sophia Charlotte attended him in his sick room, we might have
supposed that the closer approximation thus induced, and the
interchange of attention and care on the one side, and grati-
tude on the other, would have drawn closer the bonds of affec-
tion between the husband and wife ; but, alas ! the former's
foible for ceremony and state had attended him even to his
bedside, and they remained as much strangers to each other as
ever.

The beginning of the year 1690 was embittered to Sophia
Charlotte by the first severe domestic misfortune which she had
as yet experienced. This was the loss of her two brothers,
Charles Philip and Frederic Augustus, who had served in the
Imperial army, and who were cut off within three days of each
other; the former, the darling of his mother, fell fighting like
a hero, hand to hand with the enemy at Pristina, in Albania,
on the 3rd of January, 1 690 ; whilst the latter, the younger
and favourite brother of Sophia Charlotte, was killed in Tran-
sylvania, where he headed an attempt to drive the Turks from
a pass of which they had possessed themselves, December 30,
1689.

The Duchess Sophia was almost crushed by this double mis-
fortune, and her daughter hastened over to Hanover, at once
to alleviate her mother's grief by her tender care, and to solace
her own by its participation. In the April following she ac-
companied her mother to Carlsbad for the sake of the Duchess's
health, which was greatly affected by the blow she had sus-
tained. It was in a letter of thanks to Leibnitz, for the good
news communicated by him of the amendment of her mother's
health, that Sophia Charlotte's correspondence with that great
man commenced.

As there is nothing in Frederic's journey to Konisberg to be
inaugurated Duke of Prussia, in presence of the Polish Am-
bassadors (that duchy being still dependent upon the kingdom
of Poland), which especially relates to the Electress, I pass it
over without further notice, and proceed to the year 1691,

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 53

when the Elector made his consort a present of the large
castle and garden, which afterwards became the residence of
Sophia Dorothea, Queen of Frederic William I., and which
received from her the name of Monbijou. The district be-
longing to this castle then included nearly the whole of the
land on which now stands the suburb of Spandau with part
of Dorotheenstadt ; somewhat later also, the ground now occu-
pied by the suburb of Stralau came into her possession.
Unlike her predecessor, Dorothea, who caused part of her
property to be built upon in order to benefit by the house-
rent thus accruing, and who drew considerable profits from a
wine and beer house, and a hotel which she caused to be con-
structed before the Spandau gate to receive the Hamburg
merchants, thus greatly aggrieving the hotel-keepers and publi-
cans of Berlin, Sophia Charlotte let this property at a merely
nominal ground-rent, sometimes at none at all, as building
and garden ground, to the citizens of Berlin. She was greatly
and deservedly beloved by them, for she was always ready to
hear the petitions of even the humblest and poorest, talking
with them gladly, helping them if she could, or at least sooth-
ing their troubles, and cheering their hearts with her gentle,
kindly words. After her death, until the time of Louisa, wife
of Frederic William III., the Prussians had no queen, who was
held by them in a measure of love and veneration, in any degree
equalling that with which they regarded the memory of Sophia
Charlotte.

For her own residence she had chosen the beautifully-situ-
ated village of Liitzen on the Spree, and having bought the
estate of Ruhe-leben, she caused the castle of Liitzelburg to
be built upon it, in the Italian style, after the designs of
Schliiter, whilst a beautiful garden was laid out from the plans
of Le Notre; the building was prepared for her reception in
1696, but was not completed during her lifetime. Here, in
the society of her chosen friends, Sophia Charlotte flung aside
the hateful thraldom of that etiquette which made the ceding

54 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

of an arm-chair * matter of a month's negotiation, and a step in
precedence a mortal offence, and being allowed to be natural
was happy and gay.

The negotiations for the erecting of Hanover into an elec-
torate, which had been for some time pending, chiefly through
the medium of the Duchess, who had the affair much at heart,
now came to a successful issue, and Ernest Augustus was
declared Elector of Hanover in 1692. It was on this occasion
that Stepney, the English ambassador at Berlin, addressed the
following couplet to the Electress of Brandenburg : —

" Electoris eras conjux, nunc filia facta es,
Sis modo sera parens, sis quoque sera soror."

A prophecy which was more than accomplished by the event.
After a visit to John George, Elector of Saxony, at Torgau,
when arrangements were made for his betrothal with the
widowed sister of Frederic, Eleanore of Eisenach, Margravine
of Anspach, the Elector and Electress of Brandenburg returned
by way of Hanover, to Berlin.

On the 26th of June of the same year, Sophia Charlotte,
though in good health, set herself to the task of making her will.
Having disposed of all her personal property, and expressed
the tenderest affection for her son, she fixes the text of her
funeral sermon from the sublime words of St. John ii. 25.
" I am the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live." Though she appears
to have had a kind of presentiment that her life would not be a
long one, yet the idea of death was never to her accompanied by
gloom ; on the contrary, she always looked upon it with a calm,
cheerful, somewhat curious eye ; nor did she in the least slacken
in her enjoyment of, or interest in, the things of this life, from
the reflection that her participation in them might be but
short. Shortly afterwards Leibnitz, aware of her love of all

* See Marg. Baireuth's interview with the Empress of Charles VII. After much
discussion it was decided that the Empress should only take "a very small
chair," and the Margravine a "dossier."

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 55

matters of scientific interest, sent her a letter descriptive of a
fossil tooth found at Brunswick, which was supposed by the
vulgar to be the tooth of a giant, but which he, from its struc-
ture, believed that of an elephant, or, as the comparative cold
of the climate seemed to preclude this idea, that of some
marine creature analogous to an elephant. His letter is in-
teresting, as conveying the philosopher's ideas upon a subject
so little investigated as the science of palaeontology then was.
I do not insert it, lest those of my readers to whom such
fossil curiosities are merely " dry bones " should find their
patience wearied.

The following Christmas was spent by Sophia Charlotte and
Frederic at Hanover; they were accompanied by the little
electoral Prince, now four years old, on whom both his mother
and grandmother doated with an excessive affection, which led
to a degree of indulgence, highly prejudicial to so turbulent a
spirit as that with which he was endowed. The Electress
Sophia entreated so urgently that he might be left under her
care, that his mother at length consented, the rather because,
owing to the great demands made upon her time by state ap-
pearances, &c., and her frequent absences from home, days
and even weeks frequently passed in which she was not able to
see the child.

I must now no longer omit to give some account of the
characteristic childhood of Frederic William I., and of the
provision which Sophia Charlotte made for that, in her eyes,
all-important object, his education; 'and if she failed in her
efforts to make him all that a prince ought to be, it was rather
from over-anxiety than from neglect.

She seems, in common with many learned grown-up persons,
who are not much accustomed to the minds of children, to have
expected him to view learning, and the means of its attainment,
through her own philosophical eyes, forgetting that the intel-
lectual point of sight of a child, falls, as greatly as his stature,
below that of an adult, and that to his young and restless mind

56 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

and ever-moving limbs, both requiring motion to expand their
growth, the acquirement of learning, as a task, is nauseous as
is to his palate the physic, which it requires not only gilded
cup and sweetmeat, but all his little principles of love and duty
to make him swallow: and thus knowledge, beautiful and
alluring as it may be made even to the mind of a child, is
allowed to be presented dry, withered and unsightly, as if a
naturalist should offer his Hortus siccus to a child who loves to
pluck the gay, glad flowers in sunny meadows, and expect him
to behold in its discoloured specimens the same attractive beauty
which charms his eye in the living blossoms.

Upon Frederic William, although his constitution "was too
strong to allow him to become either deformed in body or
weak in mind, like the Dauphins of France, the system of
education then in vogue, had the effect of making him detest
learning and all its appliances; and though in later life the con-
sequences of this injudicious treatment were but too apparent,
yet the injustice he did to the memory of his mother, in saying
that she was " no good Christian " * for her treatment of, and
indulgence towards him, is manifestly owing to the same warp
in his mind which induced him to behave with such harshness
to his own children. Besides, her extreme indulgence was in
part the result of a mistaken idea that by allowing his boiste-
rous disposition to have its full swing, it might become modified
more successfully than by restraint and strictness. Several
anecdotes are on record of the manner in which she endea-
voured to carry out this principle. The Count Christopher
Dohna had two sons of about the young Prince's age, and
Sophia Charlotte used frequently to have them at the Castle, as
playmates for her own son. On one occasion she took them
into the Elector's apartment, and told them to make all the
noise they could. The three boys, nothing loth to obey, seized
upon the great silver bell which was used to summon the
attendants, and began to ring with all their might. Both the

* Morgenstern.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 57

Elector and Count Christopher, alarmed at this " Glocken-trio,"
hastily entered the apartment, and the dismay of the refined
courtier may be imagined at beholding the origin of the
uproar. However, the naive reply of one of the little Dohnas
to the Electress's question, " Who is that gentleman ?" (pointing
to the Elector,) ' ( Why, the Burgomaster of Mohrung,* to be
sure," elicited a smile even on the shocked countenance of the
Elector, and set all parties at their ease again.

As we have seen, Frederic William was a strong and healthy
child, so that D'Artis, the Court preacher, in his sermon on the
death of Prince Louis, said that " everything in the electoral
Prince gave cause to hope for a vigorous government." Unlike
his father, not only in his sturdy, corporeal frame and rude
health, but also in his resolute and obstinate temper, the little
Prince soon became what nursemaids call a " tyrant " in the
nursery. He was confided to the care of a French lady of the
name of Montbail, nee Duval, afterwards known as Madame de
Rocoulles, and many were the panics into which he threw that
good lady and her subordinate, Eversmann, by his juvenile
escapades. Once he plunged the whole palace into direful con-
fusion by swallowing one of his silver-gilt shoe buckles, on
which occasion we are told that " Madame the Electress uttered
cries which would have softened rocks/' and which perhaps had
that effect upon the offending buckle, for the heir of Prussia
escaped with no evil consequence from this misapplication of
purposes. Upon another occasion Madame de Montbail having
threatened to punish him, he took advantage of her momentary
inadvertence to climb upon the parapet outside the window, and
declared his intention of throwing himself down unless she
remitted the punishment ; nor would he come down from his
perch until poor Madame de Montbail, terrified at the prospect
of such a termination to her office, and well knowing he would
put his threat into execution, capitulated in form.

He was as complete a contrast to his father in his detestation

* A small country estate belonging to Count C. Dohna.

58 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

of finery as in other things. A splendid brocade dressing-
gown being one day brought for his use, he watched his oppor-
tunity, and flung it into the fire. These anecdotes, together
with a later exploit of his, achieved in company with his cousin,
the Prince of Anhalt Dessau, of cutting off the tails of some
cows whose herdsmen they found asleep,* may give some idea
of the sort of subject which Frederic William presented for the
management of his preceptors.

His stay at Hanover was curtailed by his quarrel with his
cousin George, son of the electoral Prince of Hanover, after-
wards George II. of England. This juvenile strife between
the two boys appears to have given rise to a deep-rooted dis-
like, which lasted the whole of their respective lives.'f' George
of Hanover afterwards gave Frederic William the soubriquet
of " the sergeant," whilst Frederic William retaliated by nick-
naming his cousin " the dancing-master." George also super-
seded Frederic William in the affections of his first love, the
Princess Caroline of Anspach, and thus, as they both grew up,
widened the breach between them.

On the return of the little electoral Prince to Berlin he was
replaced under the care of Madame de Montbail, but it was
soon apparent that he was by far too boisterous to be con-
trolled by female management, and the choice of a male pre-
ceptor became necessary. For this purpose Sophia Charlotte
had fixed upon the Count Alexander de Dohna. This gentle-
man was of a very ancient and noble Swiss family, who had
formerly gained too much power in Saxony, and been thence ex-
pelled. J His father was general in the Dutch service. Dohna
was a handsome man, of a stately presence, refined, somewhat
austere manners, and highly honourable principles, although

* Vehse.

f Frederic William is said, on his death-bed, to have asked whether it was
indispensably necessary that he should forgive all his enemies, and upon being
answered in the affirmative, to have turned to his Queen Sophia Dorothea, and
said, " Then write to the King of England that I die at peace with him — but
wait till I am dead first." — Malmesbury.

£ Vehse, and Dohua's "Memoirs."

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 59

of ambitious views. His chief disqualification was an extreme
love of economy — some called it avarice — which unfortunately
brought out the same already-innate quality in his pupil to an
extent that became only too apparent in his after life.

For the appointment of this gentleman Sophia Charlotte
applied to the then all-powerful minister Danckelmann, between
whom and the Dohnas no love was lost.* Count Christopher
tells a story of the Electress's application to Danckelmann for
his own .appointment to a vacant post at Court, which seems to
have been mistaken by some writers for that made with respect
to the preceptorship for his brother. I therefore insert it.
Danckelmann received the expression of the Electress' wishes
with more than his usual coldness and reserve, for she had
never much courted him, and he expected to be courted as his
due ; besides, she was very friendly towards the Dohnas, whom
he regarded, with considerable truth, as his enemies. He
answered her request, therefore, by making difficulties, and
alleged the necessity of consulting the will of the Elector. To
his objections she replied, with vivacity, that she was " per-
fectly aware what he had it in his power to do, and that, there-
fore, the result would show the extent of his wish to oblige
her/' Both the Dohnas, thus befriended, were respectively
appointed to the posts in question. Count Alexander von
Dohna was invested in 1695 with the charge of governor of
the young Prince in a very lengthy and elaborate discourse,
delivered by Fuchs, to which he replied shortly and simply, by
saying he would do his duty to the best of his ability. He
proceeded to select, as coadjutors in his task, two gentlemen of
the respective names of Rebeur and Cramer; the former,
a Frenchman, had been tutor to the accomplished young
M. de Brand, whose natural talents and amiable disposition
happily prevailed over, rather than were cultivated by the
education he had received, but whose mental advantages were
ascribed by Dohna to his tutor's instructions. This tutor,

* Count Christopher Dohna's "Memoirs."

60 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

however, Pollnitz describes as self-conceited to the point of
infatuation, a poetaster, " faisant le bel esprit," but little de-
voted to his duties, and as wearying the Prince with studies
more calculated to disgust, than to inspire him with a taste for
them.

Cramer was a German, whose chief characteristic was a
mortal hatred of everything French. The brochure of the
Abbe Bonhours, " Can a German possess intellect ? " rankled
in his remembrance, and his influence over the mind of his
pupil was principally manifested by that antipathy to France
and the French people, manners and language, which he had
succeeded in instilling into it.

A glance at the great folios, still preserved as mementos of
Frederic William's early studies, would probably make it at
once apparent, why, with so many advantages of tuition, and
with such a mother, he not only never became a learned man,
but even conceived a violent antipathy for learning, and every-
thing belonging to it.

These said folios are in his own boyish hand, written in five
columns, and consisting of extracts from the Old Testament,
from Genesis to Malachi ; the second column in German, the
third in French, the fourth in Latin, &c. It is certainly not
wonderful that he should, ever after, have had an extreme aver-
sion to the Old Testament writings, which he would not allow
to be read in His presence.

Interesting herself as she did in her son's education, Sophia
Charlotte soon perceived the mistake which had been made in
the choice of E/ebeur, and would gladly have procured his dis-
missal; but this could not be accomplished without giving
offence to Count Dohna, which she was most unwilling to do.
Eebeur was therefore allowed to remain in his office, although
it was greatly to the disadvantage of the young Prince. The
year prior to this arrangement was marked in Sophia Charlotte's
family by that unhappy series of misrepresentations and mis-
takes which condemned the innocent and unhappy Sophia of

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 61

Zell to the perpetual imprisonment of the Castle of Ahlden. I
need not pause to tell the sad and well-known story of her
husband's coldness and infidelity; of her outraged wifehood,
and alienated affections ; nor of the intrigues of Madame
Platen, and the murder of the hapless Konigsmark. Her
husband's subsequent proposals of reconciliation, and her own
indignant rejection of them, accompanied by the words, " If I
am guilty, I am unworthy of him — if I am innocent, he is un-
worthy of me/' sufficiently proved Sophia's innocence, both
for then and now.*

No very particular events occurred at this period at Berlin ;
the usual routine of so many state receptions, so many dinners
and balls, occupied the Court, and the occasional visit of some
distinguished foreigner furnished a new subject of conversation
for the courtiers, and a little novelty for the Electress, who
delighted in a discussion, and who generally engaged the
strangers who visited her Court in some argument which
might develope their peculiar ideas upon subjects of common
interest. On one of these occasions, a French gentleman pro-
pounded certain ideas upon the subject of the merely political
institution of marriage, which seemed to her vicious and erro-
neous, yet which she did not see clearly how to refute. She
therefore called up Brunsenius, an ecclesiastic, who chanced to
enter ; and, having satisfied herself that the arguments of the
stranger could be refuted satisfactorily, she led him to resume
the discussion with a champion better furnished with weapons
than herself, in order to have the satisfaction of hearing the
right cause triumphantly vindicated.

Being fond not only of music, but of theatrical entertain-
ments, Sophia Charlotte had prepared, for the eve of Easter
of the year 1695, the performance of an opera, in the little
theatre within the Castle, where it accordingly took place, to the

* " The Georgian Era." Lord Mahon does not mention the proposals of recon-
ciliation said to have been made by George I. to Sophia, but only alludes to her
frequent protestations of innocence.

62 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

great satisfaction of all parties concerned. Not so, however, to
that of Cochins, the Court preacher, who looked upon it as a
dangerous invention of Satan, and as such, loudly calling for
reprehension. The next Sunday, therefore, he delivered a very
stringent discourse, bearing upon the lamentable falling away
of the Court, and of the Electress in particular, in respect of
this enormity. But Sophia Charlotte, either too far behind the
zealous ecclesiastic in piety, or before him in enlightenment, as
opinions may decide, was not only impenitent for her transgres-
sion, but actually formed the design, since operas could not be
performed, whilst the ban of the Church was thus placed upon
them, of subverting the rigid doctrines of the divine, and of
even decoying himself into a participation of the dangerous
amusement. Consequently, having demonstrated to him with
cogent reasoning * that there absolutely was nothing wrong in
these representations, she very winningry requested him, not
only to be present himself, but to bring his wife and daughter
to the next performance, which she was then preparing. How-
ever, unfortunately for the success of her scheme, the young
Count Donhoff, who was to take a part in the piece, was, at the
same time, preparing for his first communion, under the eye of
Cochins, and it so happened that the rehearsals for the opera,
and the examinations for the communion came into collision;
thus proving beyond all doubt, to the apprehension of the good
preacher, that the thing was incontestibly evil ; accordingly, the
ensuing Sunday, he launched forth upon the heinousness of the
sin with greater vehemence than ever ; and with such effect,
that the Elector caused all the paraphernalia to be dismantled,
the stage itself to be broken up, and the boards to be carried
away in the night. This little incident, it must be allowed,
does equal honour to the sincerity of the fearless preacher, and
to the moderation of the Elector, who was willing not only to

* Dohna says that the reasoning employed was contained in a bag of ducats
sent by the Elector, but Cochins, hurt by the imputation thus cast upon his in-
tegrity, rejected the bribe with indignation.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 63

make a slight sacrifice, but even to thwart the wishes of his
wife, rather than wound the conscientious scruples of a good
man.

I must pause here a moment, to relate the sad and romantic
episode of the marriage and death of the Elector's half-brother,
Charles Philip. He had been engaged in military service in
Italy, and whilst at Turin had met with the beautiful Madame
de Salmour, nee Balbiani, for whom he conceived a violent pas-
sion. Finding that her favour was not to be obtained by any
other than honourable proposals, for she, says Pollnitz, replied
like Catherine de Rohan to Henry IV., that " though she was
too poor to be his wife, she was yet of too honourable a house
to be his mistress;" he married her privately. The Elector,
having heard of the connection which his brother was likely to
form, recalled him to Berlin; the Prince, however, took no
notice of the summons, and the Elector then commissioned an
officer named Hackeborn to arrest him, if necessary; at all
events, to bring him to Berlin. Having obtained the permission
of the Duke of Savoy, Hackeborn proceeded to execute his
painful commission. He surprised the unfortunate young man
one morning in the arms of his bride, and produced the order
for arrest. The Prince seized his sword, and defended himself
desperately. His arm having been wounded in the scuffle, he
was disarmed and secured. Torn from the object of his pas-
sionate attachment, who was sent immediately to a convent, he
refused to allow the bleeding from his arm to be staunched,
until he fainted from loss of blood; fever, induced by the ex-
citement and agitation of his mind, set in, and in five days he
was a corpse.

After his funeral his widow was released from her confine-
ment ; she subsequently claimed her dowry, and asked the pro-
tection of the Emperor : Frederic offered to pay the dowry if
she would relinquish the name of Madame de Brandenbourg,
which she had assumed; but this she refused to do, saying that
her honour was of more value to her than any other dowry.

64 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

She accordingly retained the appellation, until her marriage
with Count Wackerbarth, the Field Marshal of Saxony.*

In 1696 took place that eventful meeting of Frederic with
William III. at the Hague, when upon the refusal of the
"fauteuil" to the Elector of Brandenburg is said to have de-
pended the future royalty of Prussia. For as in compliance with
the etiquette of courts, William thought it incumbent upon
him to maintain his royal prerogative, and withhold the fauteuil
which would have tacitly placed the Elector upon a footing of
equality with himself, the indignity so roused that Prince's
feelings and mortified his dominant passion, that, from this
moment, he set his heart intently upon the long-revolved project
of the erection of Prussia into a kingdom. And though at the
ensuing interview at Cleves, upon Frederic's own territory, the
chairs were equal, and the King took precedence in nothing
save the right hand, yet the iron had entered too deeply into
Frederic's small soul for the wound to cease from rankling, and
he resolved to move heaven and earth to make himself a king.

On the return of the Elector and Electress, (Sophia Charlotte
having spent the time occupied by the Elector in visiting Wil-
liam III., at Hanover,) we are informed that a " Lust Ballet "
was prepared at Liitzelburg, in which, for the surprise and
gratification of his mother, the young Prince was to personify
Cupid ; a very comical travesty, accustomed as we are to his sub-
sequent character as a man, and considering that the exploits of

* This is Pollnitz's version of the event, which is, however, differently related
by other authors. A scarce book, "La Guerre d' Italic ; ou, Memoires de Count

D ," gives a detailed account, which states, that the Prince was not wounded,

but after the seizure of his bride, betook himself to the siege of Casal, and that
he was there overtaken by the fever, which, brought on by rage and despair, ter-
minated his existence.

Another account, composed by a Piedmontese, gives still different particulars ;
all, however, agree in the facts of the marriage and the death of the Margrave
Charles Philip.

Madame de Salmour's son, by her first marriage, was adopted by her third hus-
band, Count Wackerbarth, and bore the name of Wackerbarth Salmour. See
Rodenbeck "Beitrage zur Geschichte Fred. Wilh. des Grossen." Churfiirsten.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 65

the little Frederic William were generally more characteristic of
an infant Hercules than of the little God of love.

A singular historical event occurred in the course of the
year 1697, when a great Potentate despatched an embassy
to a foreign Power, himself accompanying the mission in-
cognito. I allude to the famous tour of Peter the Great, who,
as he stated in the instructions of his ambassadors, having re-
flected that he was wholly indebted to foreign engineers for the
capture of Asow, had resolved to acquaint himself personally
with the various branches of mechanics necessary for the im-
provement of his army, navy, and empire generally, in those
countries in which they had attained the greatest perfection.
Frederic was very much flattered by the application of the Czar
for permission to enter his dominions, and arranged to receive
the embassy in person at Konigsberg, inconvenient though it
was in point of expense, with all imaginable magnificence.

The officers who were charged with the preparations, were
ordered to make them upon as grand a scale " as if the Czar
in person were to be entertained;" great, therefore, was the
splendour of the Elector and his attendance, very gorgeous the
robe of scarlet in which his person was arrayed to receive the
Genevese Le Fort and the Prince Alexiowitz Goloffkin with their
cortege of shaven-headed, half-savage Russian lords, in long
furred robes, all glittering with " barbaric pearls and gold/'

The Czar himself dined with Frederic in private more than
once; upon one of these occasions an attendant having let fall
a plate, the clatter thus produced so startled the Czar, that he
jumped up seizing his sword, and it required Frederic's earnest
assurances that no danger was to be apprehended in his domi-
nions, to persuade him that an assault upon his person was not
intended. He was very curious about the German manners and
customs, and inquired particularly into the nature of their
punishments. Upon hearing that malefactors were broken
upon the wheel, he expressed a great desire to witness this
punishment; he was told that there was, at that time, no criminal

66 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OP PRUSSIA.

in the prisons who was amenable to such a sentence. The most
natural and easy expedient in the world immediately suggested
itself to surmount this difficulty. " Why not take one of my
people?" said the Czar; and great was the difficulty of per-
suading him, that this so laudable desire for knowledge could
not be satisfied, at least on German ground.

The Electress was particularly desirous to see this far-famed
half-savage genius, but unfortunately, during his visit to Berlin,
she was staying at Hanover. She therefore accepted joyfully
the offer which the Privy Councillor, Paul Fuchs, who was pre-
sent at the reception at Konigsberg, made her, to describe by
letter all the circumstances which took place. I quote from her
letter to him upon the occasion, as Sophia Charlotte always ex-
presses her sentiments in a manner which is peculiarly her
own. " I/offre que vous me faites de me donner une relation ex-
acte du voyage du Czar, je 1'accepte de bon coeur, car sans que
j'ai cela de commun avec toutes les femmes, d'etre curieuse, il
me semble que cela est aussi plus permis sur cette matiere que
sur aucune autre, car le cas est fort rare de voir le maitre in-
connuavec son ambassade, ce qui jusqu'ici n'a ete pratique que
dans les romans. Je regretterai fort de ne pas le voir, et je vou-
drais que Ton le persuadat de passer par ici, non pas pour voir
mais pour etre vu, et nous epargnerions avec plaisir ce qu'on
donne pour les betes rares pour F employer en cette vue." *

In a subsequent letter of May 28th to Fuchs, she thanks
him for his readiness to oblige her, and for the minuteness of
his relation, and concludes by hoping that the Czar's visit,
though rather expensive and inconvenient to the Elector now,

* I heartily accept your offer to give me an exact narration of the Czar's jour-
ney, for besides being, in common with the rest of my sex, endowed with curi-
osity, it appears to me to be more allowable in this matter than any other, for it
is a very uncommon case to see the master incognito with his embassy, and one
which hitherto has only been carried out in romances. I shall regret very much
not to see him, and I wish he could be persuaded to pass this way, not to see, but
to be seen ; and we would spare with pleasure what one gives for rare beasts to
employ it with this view.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 67

will be a great advantage to him in future, and by regretting
much " qu'il ne vienne pas ici avec son ambassade; et quoique
je suis ennemie de la malproprete, la curiosite Pemporte pour ce
coup."

In another letter, dated 10th June, she still hopes that at
least, in travelling by land, for safety, he may visit Berlin, and
that his favourites the ambassadors will induce him to do so.

On his journey to Amsterdam, Sophia Charlotte's desire to
see this ' ' wonderful beast of the age," as Vehse calls him, in
allusion to the foregoing letter, was fully gratified : at her own
and her mother's request, he consented to meet the two Prin-
cesses at Koppenbruck, about four German miles from Hanover.
In a letter to Fuchs, dated July 17th, she thus describes the
interview : —

"A present je puis vous rendre le pareil Monsieur, car j'ai
vu le grand Czar. 11 m'avait donne rendezvous & Coppenbrugge,
ou il ne savait pas que toute la famille serait, ce qui fut cause
qu'il fallait traiter une heure pour nous le rendre visible ; k la
fin il s'accorda que Monsieur le Due de Celle, ma mere, mes
freres, et moi, le viendrions trouver dans la salle ou Fon devait
souper, et ou il voulut entrer en meme temps par une autre
porte, pour n'etre pas vu, car le grand moude qu'il avait aperyu
sur un parapet en entrant, Pavait fait ressortir du village.
Madame ma mere et moi commenyames a faire notre compli-
ment ; et il fit repondre M. le Fort pour lui, car il paraissait
honteux, et se cachait le visage avec la main — ' ich kann nicht
sprechen' — mais nous Papprivoisames d'abord, et il se mit a
table entre madame ma mere et moi, ou chacune Pentretint
tour & tour et ce fut & qui Pauroit. Quelquefois il repondit
lui-meme, d'autres fois il le laissait faire & deux truchemens, et
assureinent il ne dit rien que de fort a. propos, et cela sur tous
les sujets sur lesquels on le mit, car la vivacite de madame ma
mere lui a fait bien des questions, et je m'etonne qu'il ne fut
pas fatigue de la conversation, puisque Pon dit que ce n'est pas
fort en usage dans son pays. Pour ses grimaces, je les me suis

F 2

68 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

imaginees pires que je ne les ai trouvees, et quelques unes ne
sont pas en son pouvoir de corriger. L'on voit aussi qu'il n'a
pas eu de maitre pour apprendre & manger proprement, mais il y
a un air naturel et sans contraint dans son fait qui m'a plu, car
il a fait d'abord com me s'il etait chez-lui, et apres avoir permis
& tous que les gentilshommes qui servent puissent entrer et
toutes les dames qu'il avait fait du commencement difficulte de
voir, il a fait fermer la porte a ses gens et a mis son favori, qu'il
appelle son bras droit ; aupres, avec ordre de ne laisser sortir
personne, et a fait venir de grands verres, et donne trois a
quatre coups a. boire & chacun, en marquant qu'il le faisait
pour leur faire honneur. 11 leur donnait lui-meme le verre,
quelqu'un le voulut donner a. Quirini (Sophia Charlotte's page),
il le reprit dans ses mains et le remit lui-meme dans celles de
Quirini, ce qui est une politesse a laquelle nous ne nous atten-
dions pas. Je lui donnai la musique pour voir la mine qu'il y
ferait, et il dit qu'elle lui plaisait, surtout Ferdinando, qu'il
recompensa comme les messieurs de la cour avec un verre.
Nous fumes quatre heures h table pour lui complaire, a boire a.
la Moscovite, c'est & dire tous a. la fois et debout, & la sante du
Czar. Frederic ne fut pas oublie, cependant il but peu. Pour
le voir danser, je fis prier. M. le Fort de nous faire avoir ses
musiciens qui vinrent apres le repas, ou il ne voulut pas com-
mencer qu'il n'eut vu auparavant comment nous dansions, ce
que nous fimes pour lui complaire, et pour le voir faire k lui
aussi. II ne put, et ne voulut pas commencer qu'il n'eut des
gants, et il en fit chercher par tout son train sans pouvoir en
trouver. Madame ma mere dansait avec le gros commissaire
(Golofkin), et devant M. le Fort menait le tout avec la fille
de la Comtesse Platen, et le Chancelier (Wotznicin) avec la
mere; cela alia fort gravement, et la danse Moscovite fut
trouvee jolie. Enfin tous furent fort contents du grand Czar,
et il le parut aussi; je voudrais que vous le fussiez aussi de
la relation que je vous en fais. Si vous le trouvez a propos
vous pouvez en divertir Monsieur 1'Electeur. En voilk assez

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 69

pour vous lasser, mais je ne saurai qu'y faire ; j'aime & parler
du Czar, et si je me croyais, je vous dirai plus que — je reste
bien affectionnee & vous servir,

" SOPHIE CHARLOTTE.

" P.S. — Lefou du Czar aparce aussi, qui est bien sot, cepen-
dant nous avons eu envie de rire de voir que son maitre prenoit
un grand balai et se mit & le balayer." *

* This and the preceding letters are copied from Ennan's " Mem. pour servir &
1'Hist de S. C."

"At present I can return your good offices, sir, for I have seen the great Czar.
He gave me the rendezvous at Coppenbrugge, but he did not know that all the
family would be there, for which reason we had to treat for an hour before he
would consent to make himself visible ; finally, he conceded that M. le Due de
Celle, my mother, my brothers, and myself should meet him in the hall where we
were to sup, whither he would come himself by another door, in order not to be
seen, for the concourse of people whom he had observed assembled upon the para-
pets on entering the village, had caused him to leave it again as quickly. Madame
my mother and I began to pay him our compliments, and he made M. le Fort
reply for him, for he appeared bashful, and hid his face with his hand — "ich
kann nicht sprechen" — but we soon tamed him, and he seated himself at table
between inadame my mother and me, whilst each of us conversed with him by
turns, as either wished it. Sometimes he replied himself, at others he allowed
two interpreters to do it, and certainly he said nothing which was not very much
to the purpose ; and that upon all subjects on which he was tried, for the vivacity
of madame my mother suggested all sorts of questions ; and I am astonished that
he was not fatigued with the conversation, since it is said that it is not very much
the custom in his country.

"As to his grimaces, I had imagined them to be worse than I found them ;
some of them it really is not in his power to correct. It may be seen that he has
not had a master to teach him to eat with cleanliness, but there is a natural and
unconstrained air about him which pleased me, for from the first he acted as if he
were at home, and after having given permission for all the gentlemen in attend-
ance to enter, as well as all the ladies whom at first he had made a difficulty about
seeing, he ordered his people to shut the door, and placed his favourite, whom he
calls his right arm, near it, with orders not to let any one leave the room. He
then ordered great glasses to be brought and gave three or four cups of wine to
each of them to drink, remarking that he did so to do them honour ; he gave
them the glass himself ; some one was about to give it to Quirini (Sophia Char-
lotte's page), but he took it back into his hand, and placed it himself in that of
Quirini, an act of politeness which we did not expect. I gave him some music to
see how he would like it. He said that it pleased him. Ferdinando he admired
especially, and recompensed him as he had done the gentlemen of the court, with
a glass of wine. We remained four hours at table to please him, and drank a la

70 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

A letter from the Electress Sophia, dated Herrenhausen,
llth August, 1697, adds some further details of this curious
visit, on which she was accompanied by her three sons, George
Louis, Christian, and Ernest Augustus, the fourth, Maximilian
William, having left Hanover.* " The Czar is very tall, his
features are beautiful, and his figure very noble ; he has much
vivacity of mind, prompt and just repartee; but with all the
advantages which nature has bestowed upon him, it is^ to be
wished that his manners were a little less rough ,"f

15th September, she writes — " I might embellish the recital
of the journey of the illustrious Czar if I were to tell you that
he is alive to the charms of beauty ; but, to confess the fact, I
perceived no disposition to gallantry in him, and if we had not
made such a point of seeing him, I do believe that he would
not have troubled his head about us. In his country it is the

Moscovite, that is to say, all at once standing, to the health of the Czar. Frederic
was not forgotten : however, he drank but little. To see him dance, I caused M.
le Fort to be asked to let us have his musicians, who came after the repast. He
would not begin till he saw how we danced ; which, to gratify him, as well as to
see him dance himself, we did : but he could not, and would not begin till he had
some gloves ; he caused some to be sought for amidst his whole train without suc-
ceeding in finding any. Madame my mother danced with the great Commissary
(Golofkin), whilst M. le Fort led off with the daughter of the Countess Platen,
and the Chancellor Wotznicin danced with her mother. This went off with great
gravity, and the Moscovite dance was pronounced pretty. In fine, all were much
pleased with the great Czar, and he appeared to be pleased also. I hope that you
may be so too with the account I give you of him. If you find it a propos you
can divert Monsieur the Elector with it. Here is enough to tire you, but I could
not help it ; I like to speak of the Czar, and if I attended to my wishes, I should
tell you more, instead of saying, I remain well disposed to serve you,

' ' SOPHIA CHARLOTTE.

" P.S. The Czar's fool also made his appearance : he is very stupid, but it
made us laugh to see his master take a great broom and begin to sweep him."

* Maximilian William of Hanover had engaged with Frederic von Moltke in a
conspiracy to set aside the right of primogenital succession of his elder brother.
Sophia Charlotte is said to have warned her father of this by letter as early as the
year 1691. The conspiracy was discovered, and punished in the case of Moltke,
by death, after the failure of two attempts to escape in that of the Prince by an
imprisonment of several years ; on being set at liberty he went to Vienna, an
there embraced the Roman Catholic religion in 1701.

f Erman.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 71

custom for all the women* to lay on white and red, and paint is
one of the essential parts of the wedding presents which they
receive. This is the reason that the Countess Platen particu-
larly charmed the Muscovites. But in dancing, they took our
whalebone corsets for our bones, and the Czar testified his
astonishment by saying that the German ladies "ont les os
diablement durs." * In another letter she mentions the
Czar's four dwarfs. "Two of them were well-proportioned.
The Czar sometimes kissed them, and sometimes pinched their
ears. He took our little Princess (Sophia Dorothea, then
about ten years old, afterwards Queen of Prussia) by the head,
and kissed her twice, by which her fontange was very much
deranged. He also kissed her brother " (afterwards George II.,
who was then sixteen).

She also relates that "the Czar and Sophia Charlotte
exchanged snuff-boxes, and that he made both ladies feel the
callosities of his hands, caused by his labours in the dock-
yards/'

From this much talked-of visit of the great Czar we must
return to the course of events at the Court of Berlin. It is
to a conversation of Sophia Charlotte with the clergyman
Jablonsky that the origin of one of the finest institutions in
Berlin, the Academy of Sciences, may be traced. She lamented
that that city should have neither observatory nor calendar of
its own. The observation struck Jablonsky, who reported it to
Danckelmann, and that minister proposed it as worthy of the
Elector's consideration. Frederic, as usual, mindful of his
great French cotemporary, of whom in so many things he
offered a humble imitation,-)* having reflected that science was
" the thing " at Paris, conceived that perhaps it ought also to
be the thing at Berlin, and from this small commencement we

* Erman.

"I* Frederic is said to have been so fervent an admirer of Louis XIV. that to
introduce any subject to his favourable consideration it was only necessary to say
that the French monarch had expressed an interest in something similar.

?2 MEMOIRS OF ^FHE QUEENS 0$ PRUSSIA.

shall have to notice the gradual rise of that important
institution which we have just mentioned.

The death of the Elector Ernest Augustus, which took place
in 1698, made a great and melancholy change in the position
of the Electress Sophia. Although as a husband he had not
always been faithful to her, yet he had unvaryingly treated her
with the greatest esteem and confidence, and had allowed her
opinion greatly to influence his actions. " She did not rule
him, but she ruled with him/'* and her firm, cheerful co-
operation lightened to him the cares of the government, in
which she participated. Leibnitz speaks with tenderness of
the kind-heartedness and integrity of the deceased sovereign,
especially of his abhorrence of calumny and of all reports
brought to him to the disadvantage of others. j-

On the accession of his eldest son Prince George Louis to
the electorate, not only was Sophia carefully excluded from all
share in the government, but she was even treated with a con-
siderable degree of coldness and mistrust by the new Elector.
The loss of her husband, and this conduct on the part of her
son, naturally drew yet closer the bonds of affection which
had always so strictly united her with her beloved daughter,
and we henceforth find the frequency of their reciprocal visits
much increased, more especially because the mediation of
Sophia was usually needed in the misunderstandings which now
frequently took place between the Court of Hanover and that
of Berlin; for she possessed and exercised more influence over
the mind of Frederic than Sophia Charlotte had ever even
sought -to acquire.

It was now also that the great question of the possibility of
the union of the Protestant churches of Germany came into
active discussion between the Courts of Berlin and Hanover;
and, with an equal interest in the cause, neither Sophia of
Hanover, nor her daughter, were inclined to remain idle spec-
tators of so momentous an affair. The correspondence was

* Guhrauer's Life of Leibnitz. t Ibid.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 73

carried on, on the one side by the court preacher, Jablonsky^
who commenced it by order of the Electress, March 5, 1698;
and on the other by Leibnitz, "the architect and primum mobile
of the whole work," as Jablonsky entitled him, who was sup*
ported by all the influence of Sophia of Hanover.

This most desirable object occupied the minds and employed
the pens of most of the thinking men of the day. It called
forth from Leibnitz his " Tentamen Irenicum," and from " the
German Fenelon," " The Man with the Angel's Soul, the noble
and gentle" Spener,* his " Reflexiones."

Jablonsky, when speaking of these two works, said, that he
" prayed the gracious providence of God to make use of them
to remove from the way those two heaviest stones of stumbling,
the disputes upon Predestination and Election, and upon the
Holy Sacrament/'

In one of Sophia's letters to him, written during the period
of the discussion, she says, that as Christianity came into the
world by a woman, how glorious a thing would it be for her
if this great work should be effected by her means ! Effected,
however, it was not destined to be ; for, after several years of
negotiation, the question was allowed to fall to the ground
without result.

A great change had taken place in the administration of
Berlin towards the close of the last year, owing to the disgrace
of Danckelmann. This minister, who had formerly been
governor to Frederic in his youth, was one of seven brothers.
He had been considered a prodigy of learning in his boyhood,
and had disputed publicly at twelve years old ; he had after-

* Vehse thus characterizes Spener, and gives the following particulars respect-
ing him. He was the founder of the so-called "Pietists," a sect professing a
modified form of Lutheranism ; their principal resort was Halle, where the lives
of such men as the pious and active Francke, and the enlightened Thomasius, the
first vindicator of the rights of the German language, reflected honour upon their
profession. Spener lived for fourteen years in Berlin, where he contracted an
intimate friendship with Fuchs, Canitz the poet, and others of the best men of
the day. He died in 1705, a few days after the decease of Queen Sophia
Charlotte.

74 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

wards attracted the attention of the great Elector, who ap-
pointed him at twenty to the charge of governor to the
electoral Prince ; he had attached himself deeply to his pupil,
and had twice, it is said, saved his life.* On the accession of
Frederic, by a rapid promotion, he passed from office to office,
till in the year 1695, at the meeting of the seven brothers
Danckelmann — the Pleiades, as they were then called — all high
in office, f Frederic appointed him his Prime Minister. The
brothers were ennobled by the Emperor the same year, and to
the arms which they already bore, was added the device of seven
sceptres united by a ring.

During the administration of Danckelmann, a the Colbert
of Brandenburg," the revenue had increased by 150,000
Thalers annually, thus proving the wisdom of his administration,
in that respect at least. Nevertheless,5 his prosperity was as
short-lived as it was brilliant, and that owing in a great measure
to the natural arrogance of his disposition. Not only did he
incur the ill-will of the other courtiers by the hauteur of his
demeanour towards them, but in his intercourse with the
Elector himself, it is said, he could not forget that the latter
had once been his pupil, and even sometimes proceeded to
tutor him upon his conduct, in a manner which could not
fail to be highly displeasing to Frederic. Indeed, once the
Prime Minister interfered to prevent an intended journey of
the Electress to Frankfort-on-the-Oder, by telling her that the
tc Treasury coffers were not full." An anecdote is also on
record of his behaviour to the other courtiers. Upon one occa-
sion, coming late into church, when the sermon had already

* Once, at the period of the pretended poisoning in 1680, and again in 1687,
when on occasion of an illness of Frederic's, Danckelmann bled him, contrary to
the advice of the physicians.

+ A coin bearing the device of one large star, and six smaller ones emerging
from the clouds over the city of Berlin, with a Latin motto, was struck at this
period. Count C. Dohna gives Danckelmann credit for this, and says that he,
Count D., pointed it out as if accidentally to the Elector, who was highly indignant
at the arrogance of his Prime Minister.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 75

commenced, the Field-Marshal Barfuss and Kolbe Wartenberg
(both of whom afterwards succeeded in turn to the Premier-
ship), were speaking together, Danckelmann pushed between
them with the words, " Gentlemen, why do you not make room
for me ? " Kolbe immediately did so, replying, " There is
room here." The Prime Minister, however, in acknowledg-
ment, only said to him with cold hauteur, " It is your duty,
sir, to make way for me."

Danckelmann was a man of a saturnine and melancholy
temperament ; a gloomy foreboding of his approaching disgrace
constantly hovered before his mind; he was never seen to
smile. He gave a magnificent fete as a house-warming of his
newly-built palace, and on this occasion, whilst the rest of
the company were dancing in the great hall, it chanced that
Frederic found himself alone with his Prime Minister, in the
latter7 s private cabinet. Several beautiful pictures hung upon
the walls, and the Elector paused to admire them. With an
air of yet deeper gloom gathering over his fine, but dark coun-
tenance, Danckelmann, as if overshadowed by the spirit of
prophecy, pronounced solemnly, " Those pictures, as well as
all the rest of my possessions, will soon be in your hands.
My enemies will succeed in robbing me of your favour ; I
shall be disgraced and imprisoned." Frederic, much moved by
the mournful solemnity of this prediction, placed his hand upon
a Bible which by chance lay upon the table, and gave him a
solemn promise that these things should never take place, and
that he would listen to no reports inimical to him. Despite
the Elector's promise, however, the prophecy was fully accom-
plished ; although, had not Danckelmann strenuously opposed
the pet project of the kingdom, it is probable that the ascend-
ancy which his powerful understanding had gained over Frede-
ric's weak mind, would have defeated all the efforts of his
enemies, of whom Barfuss, Wartenberg, and Christopher Dohna
were the chief. Shortly after the peace of Ryswick the minister
gave in his resignation, which was accepted by Frederic in

76 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

November, 1697. Danckelmann remained still at Berlin for a
short time, preparatory to retiring to his estate. On the evening
of the 10th of December, Frederic, with a duplicity of which
he was rarely guilty, conversed with him in the most friendly
manner, and bid him adieu before his departure, which was to
take place the next day. That same night Danckelmann was
arrested, his effects sealed, and himself conveyed to the fortress
of Spandau. He remained in prison till 1707, when, on the
occasion of the birth of Fredericks first grandson, he was re-
leased, and allowed to live at Cotbus, on condition of not leaving
the kingdom. He was succeeded in his office by his old enemy
Barfuss, who only retained it till 1701, when Count Kolbe
Wartenberg became premier.*

The projected Academy, or, as it was at first called, Society
of Sciences, was now fast assuming shape and consistency, and
the death of the learned PuiFendorf, in Sept., 1699, seemed to
afford an opening for the accomplishment of Sophia Charlotte's
earnest desire to place Leibnitz at the head of the new associa-
tion. Jablonsky was directed by her to invite him to Berlin,
but owing to his occupations at Hanover, he was at that time
unable to accept the invitation. In the ensuing year Jablonsky
(March 1) received instructions formally to offer the presi-
dentship of the Academy to the philosopher. Leibnitz accepted
the post, and shortly afterwards came to Berlin. Let me here
give a short description of this celebrated man, the chief of
Sophia Charlotte's most highly honoured friends. He was born
at Leipzig in 1646. His earliest youth was devoted to the
study of jurisprudence, but he soon became known for his
scientific attainments ; he visited England several times, and
corresponded with Newton, and others of our learned men.
The work on which he expended the greatest labour, and for

* Pollnitz and Vehse. A powerful faction, headed by Count Donh off, (brother of
the former Oberstkiimmerer, Count Frederic, to whose office Kolbe succeeded, ) and
the Dohnas, and supported by the Queen, endeavoured, though unsuccessfully,
to overthrow the new Minister in 1702. Upon the failure of their attempt
Db'nhoff and the Dohnas retired from Court.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 77

which he had collected an immense mass of materials, yet which
at his death existed only as a sort of sketch of his ultimate inten-
tion, was to have been a history of Brunswick, preceded by a
geographical account of the territory, with its natural produc-
tions, &c. He was a devoted adherent of the house of Hanover,
and here he spent most of his time, until his appointment to
the Academy of Sciences called him to Berlin, where, until the
death of the Queen, his residences were frequent and length-
ened ; so much so, that it excited in some degree the jealousy of
the Elector of Hanover, who, upon one occasion, when a fall in
which he hurt his leg had confined Leibnitz to his bed and
thus prevented his leaving Berlin, sent him word that " he
had need of the services of his head, and not of those of his

After the death of the " Philosophical Queen," the attention
which had been called to the prosecution of scientific pursuits
was suffered to slacken, and, as a natural consequence, the lustre
of the Academy also greatly declined ; incompetent professors
were suffered to fill the chair, and Leibnitz mourned at once
the loss of his patroness and friend, and the decline of the in?-
stitution which had been so cherished by her. He revisited
Berlin for the last time in 1711. The death of his old, firm
friend Sophia of Hanover, in 1713, was another shock to his
declining health, and he himself died in 1716, having vainly
attempted to write down some yet unuttered remnant of his
wisdom only a few hours before his death. In person he was
tall, and nobly formed ; the expression of his features was at
once bold, open, and benevolent ; * and the veneration and
esteem in which he was held by Royalty itself, speak sufficiently
as to the character of the man. In his religious views he was
perhaps somewhat of a latitudinarian ; yet there could be no
more doubt of his Christianity than of that of his disciple,
Sophia Charlotte, upon whose religious principles the aspersions
that have been cast were, beyond question, unjust.

* Gahrauer's Life of Leibnitz, and Varnhagen von Ense's Life of S. C.

78 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Great and learned man as Leibnitz undoubtedly was, he,
judging from his writings, does not appear to have been fully
master of either of those languages in which he habitually wrote
and spoke. His Latin is laboured and inelegant ; the German
language (of which Frederic the Great says that, even so late as
his day, the only liberty which the Germans enjoyed in its use
was in permitting themselves to make a most barbarous
" estropiage" of it) he totally neglected, although at the same
time he regretted the disuse of it, and recommended its cultiva-
tion ; whilst in his French correspondence, so far from finding
either freedom or elegance, we meet with faults which would
disgrace the theme of a school-girl of modern days ; but of this
the reader will have the opportunity of judging, as I shall
presently have occasion to insert one of his letters to the
Electress of Hanover.

The inauguration of the institution of the Academy of
Sciences at Berlin, took place on the Elector's birthday, July
11, 1700, and in honour of both events Sophia Charlotte
gave a magnificent fete at Liitzenburg, or " Lustenburg,"* as
the Electress of Hanover took pleasure in naming it, in reply
to the accounts she received of the gay festivals which took
place there. Of this fete Leibnitz sent her a detailed account
in a letter, part of which I will transcribe, were it only that the
character of the delassement in which such minds as those of
Leibnitz and Sophia Charlotte (the former perhaps somewhat
unwillingly) could participate, must interest, though it may
at the same time excite surprise. Nor will that emotion be
lessened at finding the " classic pen" directed by that mighty
mind, " that planet which was sent down to enlighten the dark-
ness of earth's gloomy paths of ignorance" — of whom Fontenelle
said that, were he decomposed, enough wisdom would be found
to form three or four other great philosophers — employed in
describing, to use the mildest term, such puerilities. The
letter is dated July 13, 1700 :—

* Castle of Pleasure.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 79

" Madame, — Quoique j'imagine que Madame PElectrice fera
& votre altesse electorate une description de la masquerade
com ique, ou dela foire de village, represented hier au Theatre
de Liitzenbourg, j'en veux pourtant aussi dire quelque chose.
Le directeur en etait Monsieur d'Osten, qui a ete dans les bonnes
graces du feu Roi de Danemarc. On avait regie le tout fort a
la hate, pour etre execute le jour destine & celebrer la naissance
de FElecteur, c'est a dire le douzieme, quoique Fonzieme, qui
etait le dimanche passe, soit le vrai jour natal. On representa
done une foire de village, ou de petite ville, ou il y avait des
boutiques avec leurs enseignes, et Fon y vendait pour rien, des
jambons, saucisses, langues de bosuf, des vins et limonades, du
the, cafe, chocolat, et drogues semblables. C'etait Monsieur le
Margrave, Christian Louis (brother of the Elector), Monsieur
d'Obdam (the Dutch ambassador), Monsieur de Hamel (the
general of that name), et autres, qui tenaient ces boutiques ;
Monsieur d'Osten, faisant le docteur empirique, avait ses
arlequins et saltimbanques ; parmi lesquels se mela agreable-
ment Monseigneur le Margrave Albert (also a brother of the
Elector). Le docteur avait aussi des sauteurs, qui etaient, si je ne
me trompe, Monsieur le Comte de Solms et Monsieur de
Wassennaer. Mais rien ne fut plus joli que son joueur de
gobelets ; c'etait Monseigneur le Prince Electoral (Frederic Wil-
liam, then in his twelfth year), qui a appris effectivement k
jouer Fhocus pocus.

" Madame PElectrice etait la doctoresse qui tenait la boutique
de Forvietan. Monsieur Desaleurs (the French Envoy) faisait
tres bien le personnage de Farracheur de dents. A Fouverture
du theatre parut Fentree solennelle de monsieur le docteur,
monte sur une fa9on d^elephante, et madame la doctoresse se fit
voir aussi portee en chair par ses Turcs.* Le joueur de gobe-
lets, les bouffons, les sauteurs et Parracheur de dents vinrent
apres, et quand toute la suite du docteur fut passee, il se fit un
petit ballet de Bohemiennes, des dames de la cour, sous un chef

* The Electress had two Turkish pages, All and Hassan, amongst her suite, as
well as a Turkish female attendant, named Fatima — they were all baptized.

80 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

qui etait Madame la Princesse de Hohenzollern (a sister of Ziii-
zendorf, the Imperial Prime Minister), et quelques autres s'y
melerent pour danser. On vit aussi paraltre un astrologue, la
lunette ou la telescope a la main. Ce devait etre mon person-
nage. Mais Monsieur le Comte de Wittgenstein in'en releva
charitablement. II fit des predictions avantageuses a Monsieur
PElecteur, qui regardait de la plus prochaine loge Madame la
Princesse de Hohenzollern, principale Bohemienne, et se prit de
dire la bonne avanture a Madame PElectrice le plus agreable-
ment du monde en vers alleniands fort jolis, qui etaient de la
fafon de Monsieur de Besser (one of the few German poets of
the day, and also the master of the ceremonies). Monsieur de
Quirini (a Venetian mentioned before as one of the pages)
etait valet de chambre de madame la doctoresse, et moi, je me
plagai avantageusement pour voir tout de pres avec mes petites
lunettes, et pour en faire rapport & votre altesse electorale. La
demoiselle de Madame la Princesse de Hohenzollern avait mal
aux dents ; et Parracheur, les tenailles de marechal a la main,
faisant son metier, fit paraltre une dent de cheval marin. Le
docteur, louant les prouesses de son arracheur, laissa juger &
Passemblee combien il fallait etre a droit, pour tirer une telle
dent sans faire du mal. Parmi les malades qui demandaient
des remedes, etaient Messieurs d'Alefeld et de Fleming envoyes
de Danemark et de Pologne, et notre Monsieur d'llten (the
Hanoverian Minister), vetus en paysans de leurs pays, chacun
ayant sa chacune. Madame la Grande Marechal (the Grafin
Lottuin) etait la fern me de Parracheur, et Paidait & mettre en
ordre ses drogues et instruments ; il en etait de meme des
autres. Plusieurs entremelerent adroitement des voeux pour
PElecteur et PElectrice; Monsieur d'Obdam en flammand,
Monsieur Flemming en bon pommerien.

" C'etait au reste la tour de Babel, car chacun y parlait sa
langue ; et Monsieur d'Obdam, pour faire plaisir a madame la
doctoresse, chanta le chanson de 1' Amour medecin, qui finit par
la grande puissance de Porvietan. Aussi celui qui vantait une
telle doctoresse, ne pouvait manquer d'en avoir.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 81

" Sur la fin vint un trouble fete. Monsieur de Reisewitz,
envoye de Saxe en Pologne, faisant le docteur ordinaire du lieu,
ou stadtphysikus, qui attaquait 1'empirique. C'etait un combat
en paroles assez plaisantes. L'empirique ayant montre ses
papiers, parchemins, privileges et attestations des empereurs,
rois et princes, le stadtphysikus s'en moqua, et montra de
belles medailles d'or pendues a son col et a celui de madame sa
femme, disant que c'etait par son habilite qu'il avait acquis de
telles pieces, et que cela marquait plus reellement son savoir
faire que des papiers ramasses.

" Enfin Monseigneur 1'Electeur descendit lui-meme de sa loge,
travesti en matelot hollandais, et acheta par-ci, par-la les bou-
tiques de la foire. II y avait de la musique dans 1'orchestre et
tous ceux qui ont ete presents, qui n'etaient ou ne devaient etre
que des gens de la cour, ou de distinction, ont avoue qu'un
opera, qui aurait coute de rnilliers d'ecus, aurait donne bien
moins de plaisir aux acteurs aussi bien qu'aux spectateurs." *

This fete lasted till late in the night. Leibnitz, in writing to
one of his friends, says, after a similar occasion, " I lead here a
life which Madame the Electress calls after me, a ' liederlich
Leben/ and I find myself very much disordered, and out of my
element." The Duchess of Orleans also, to whom her sister
Sophia regularly transmitted Leibnitz's letters, says, in allu-
sion to the gaieties of the Prussian Court, " da muss es toll
hergehn."

In addition to this minute description of how the great
folks were entertained by seeing a walrus's tusk drawn from
the mouth of a beautiful young lady, and how the crown
Prince " learned effectively to play the hocus-pocus/' were I to
give the description furnished by the court poet and Master of
the Ceremonies, Besser, of the daily course of the festivities
attendant upon the marriage of the king's daughter by his first
wife (the Princess of Hesse Cassel), beginning upon the 28th

* This letter is a transcript from the copy which Vehse gives in his ' ' Preussis-
chen Hof."

82 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

of May (of the same year) and continuing till June 10th, it
would give a better idea of the half-barbarous state of society
as it then existed; but it would occupy too much space, and
not afford sufficient interest to justify its insertion. I content
myself, therefore, with a summary.

The Princess Louisa was married to her cousin, the hereditary
prince of Hesse Cassel. She was arrayed upon this occasion
in a dress of silver stuff, which weighed a centner.* The train
of this ponderous robe was of golden point d'Espagne. It was
seven ells in length, and was in such perfect keeping with the
rest of the dress that, on account of its great weight, besides
the six bridesmaids who carried it, two " special bride pages "
were required to help to sustain the burthen. In this truly
rich attire, the bride, with her six bridesmaids and two pages
attached, danced the torch dance. She was at length carried
off, perfectly exhausted with the fatigue of supporting the
fc allzugrosse Schwere" of her dress, to her apartment, where
she went through the further performance of seizing blindfold
three persons out of the circle which danced round her, and
placing her crown upon their heads, thus predicting that they
would be the next to follow her example in adopting the state
of matrimony. Finally, after the ceremonies of the toilette,
she had to present one of her garters to her father, and the
other to her father-in-law, each of the gentlemen gallantly
winding it round the handle of his sword. The next ten days
were, with the exception of the intervening Sunday, a succes-
sion of balls, operas, illuminations, processions, &c., &c. It is
evident that a royal bride in those days required considerable
physical strength to go through all the ceremonials attendant
upon her marriage.

But weightier affairs were now to call for Sophia Charlotte's
attention. Frederic had found numberless obstacles opposed
to his claims upon the regal dignity, both by the Court of
Austria and those of the other European Powers. Negotia-

* One hundred weight.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 83

tion languished and dragged on in interminable tedium, when a
new expedient was suggested which he was anxious to adopt,
— to try what might be accomplished by the powers of fascina-
tion of his wife and mother-in-law, two of the most charming
women in Europe.

No difficulty in the execution of this plan was anticipated
from Sophia of Hanover, who exulted in politics and nego-
tiation, and wished, above all things, to see her daughter a
queen, but from Sophia Charlotte, who disliked everything con-
nected with both. The proposition, however, was made to
her that she, with her mother, under pretext that her health
required the waters of Aix-la-Chapelle, should visit William of
Orange at the Hague, and the Duke of Bavaria at Brussels,
and try their powers of persuasion in furtherance of the cause.
After some consideration the Electress replied, that on condi-
tion not only of payment of her expenses, but of a considerable
augmentation to her income, which she found inadequate to her
outlay, she would undertake the commission. Pollnitz describes
with humour the comical negotiation which took place between
her and Wartenberg, who undertook to increase her income
provided that she would admit his wife to her assemblies. I
must here explain the position which Madame Wartenberg
held, in order to show why such a stipulation should have
been necessary. Graf Kolbe was a nobleman of the Palatinate,
who had made his first visit to Berlin in the train of Mary
of Orange, sister of the great Elector's first wife, Louisa. He
returned thither, and accepted office in 1690, and became
Chamberlain after Count Frederic DonhofPs death. He had
been protected and assisted in attaining this office by Danckel-
mann, to whose pride, reserve, and melancholy his gay
disposition and easy manners offered a contrast which proved
but too agreeable to the Elector ; and very unscrupulously did
the gay and polished courtier use the stately Prime Minister as
a ladder to prosperity, and with equally little remorse did he,
that elevation gained, help to kick down the means which had

G 2

84 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

enabled him to mount. His wife was the fair daughter of a
wine-merchant of the Rhine. Her beauty had attracted the atten-
tion of Biedekap, one of the royal valets- de-chambre, who had
espoused and brought her to Berlin. Here Kolbe saw her, and
she became his mistress. Her children by Biedekap were after-
wards ennobled by the mediation of Frederic, with the title
of Baron and Baroness of Aspach. After Biedekap' s death
Kolbe married her, and introduced her to the Elector, who, it
is said, in his imitation of even the vices of his magnificent
model at Versailles, thought it incumbent on him to have, at
least, a nominal mistress, and accordingly promoted the beauti-
ful Madame Kolbe Wartenberg to that post ; but the lady was
ambitious, and though no doubt she had elevated herself con-
siderably in her own estimation, still something was lacking
to her complement of satisfaction — the Electress would not
hear of receiving her, or even of knowing that there was a
Madame Kolbe Wartenberg in existence, and consequently,
the court ladies turned up their noses at her, or ignored her
existence likewise. But now presented itself a literally golden
opportunity, which must not be allowed to slip. The usually
unapproachable Electress wanted money. One day Count
Christopher Dohna presented himself before the Electress,
and introduced his errand thus : — " I am commissioned with
the most absurd business in the world ; will your Highness
allow me to disburden myself of it ? La Kolbe languishes to
be allowed to appear in your presence. She wishes it so
vehemently, that perhaps she will die of grief if you do not
accord her this permission. Think what a loss ! Would you,
on account of a little ceremony, rob the Court of its fairest
ornament?"*

" That is indeed being a skilful messenger," said Sophia
Charlotte, laughing ; " but I am not surprised — you come
fresh gilded from your embassy to England. You have a taste
for negotiation, I see, and are destined to become famous in

* "Mem." Count C. Dohna.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 85

it. But, seriously, what do you advise me ? " — " Nothing ;
Heaven preserve me from advising your Highness in such a
case. I have discharged my commission ; that is enough for
me." — " You jest, but the affair is more disagreeable to me
than you imagine : an answer is necessary, and it embarrasses
me. Now — well, if her husband can so manage that the
Elector commands it, I will consent to receive her." The
Elector, however, did not give the command, and Madame
Wartenberg had not as yet the honour of a reception by the
Electress. The journey to Aix la Chapelle was, nevertheless,
resolved upon, and actually undertaken in May, 1700. Leib-
nitz, who was taking the baths of Toplitz, was honoured by an
invitation to accompany the two ladies, but was unable to
accept it.

At Brussels the two Electresses were most courteously re-
ceived by the Duke of Bavaria; not so, however, by his beau-
tiful Polish termagant of a wife,* who, during her sojourn in
Berlin in 1695, on her road to join her husband, had signalized
herself by the most monstrous infractions of court etiquette.
She was excessively jealous of Sophia Charlotte's far-famed
beauty, and she now refused to appear with her in public.
Sophia Charlotte treated this discourtesy lightly, and amused
herself by various pleasantries upon it with the Duke, to whom
upon one occasion she laughingly said, " Without flattering
myself, I really think that I should have suited you better for
a wife than the Duchess. You love pleasure; I by no means
hate it ; you are gallant ; I am not jealous ; you would never
see me out of temper; and I think we should have made a
very happy marriage of it."

The two ladies were exposed to a frightful storm on their sub-
sequent journey between Antwerp and Rotterdam, which, how-
ever, only alarmed them. They here made acquaintance with two
of the learned men of the age, Bayle and Basnage. The former
was ill in bed, when a notification of the honour to which he
* Theresa Cunegonde, daughter of John Sobiesky.

86 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

was invited reached him, and he excused his non-appearance on
the ground of his indisposition ; however, the skilful ambassador
Dohna was sent to negotiate, and in the end the philosopher
made himself visible. He appears to have been greatly struck
by the mental endowments and amiable manners of the illus-
trious travellers, who, he said, " pleased less by their rank than
by their learning and enlightenment."

The issue of the interviews both with the Elector of Bavaria
and the King of England was entirely successful. Both pro-
mised their support to Fredericks cause, and Sophia of Hanover
likewise obtained from William the promise that her family
should be called to the succession of the English throne/'*

The final consent of Austria also was obtained at length by
a curious, though fortunate, mistake.f Count Dohna, who
was Prussian ambassador at Vienna, despairing of the success
of his mission, had applied for and received a recall. Imme-
diately after his departure a despatch arrived, directing that
the sum which Count Kinksy had rejected should be offered
to another minister; the Prussian resident, Bartholdi, took
the name of this minister, which was written in cipher, for
that of Father Wolff, a Jesuit, the Emperor's confessor, and
applied himself to him. Wolff, who was high in the Emperor's
favour, felt himself flattered that so powerful a Prince should
have sought his assistance, and used all his influence in
Frederic's behalf; and the result was, that the Emperor con-
ceded the royalty of Prussia. Other authors give a slightly
different account of this affair; the result, however, is certain.

And now Frederic turned all his thoughts to the prepara-
tions for his coronation, which was to take place as soon as
possible ; and here was a grand field for the exercise of his
ever-growing passion for silk and velvet, gold, silver and pre-
cious stones, glittering processions and rare shows; and here
was torture in prospect for the show-despising Electress, who,
in an unwonted fit of ill-humour, gave vent to her contempt for

* Pollnitz. t Ibid.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 87

the part of " Reine de theatre," that she was about to play in
Berlin with her "Prussian .ZEsop.",

Madame de Wartenberg caused a terrible " Remora," says
Count C. Dohna, in the arrangements for the ceremony of the
coronation, by urgently insisting that the right of bearing the
train of the Queen pertained to her. No expostulation of her
husband availed to dissuade her j in vain did he suggest that
the ceremony was long — that she would be too much fatigued ;
she was not to be put off. In his perplexity and distress,
knowing how unpalatable this would be to Frederic, and that
Sophia Charlotte would never consent, he applied to Count C.
Dohna, and conjured him to try his powers of persuasion upon
the lady. " Frankly," says the latter, " I pitied poor Colb,
although I could not help laughing, that a man who governed
his master could not govern his own wife ;" knowing then that
"poor Colb" feared her "like fire," Dohna undertook the
difficult commission, and, after incurring a storm of abuse
from the fair lady, who finally burst into tears of rage and dis-
appointment, he gained a victory which once more did infinite
credit to his skill as an ambassador.

Frederic selected Konigsberg as the scene of his coronation,
both because it was his birth-place, and because the name was
one of good omen.* And thither on the 17th December, 1700,
with a train of 300 carriages and 3000 horses, journeyed the
Elector and Electress of Brandenburg, thence to return as King
and Queen of Prussia. The coronation took place January 15th,
1701, and on that day, in the great hall of the Castle, at eight
o'clock in the morning, appeared Frederic, arrayed in a scarlet
coat every one of whose buttons was worth 3000 ducats, with

* A Konigsberg poet, named Bodecker, on the occasion of Frederic's birth,
during her residence at that place, presented Louisa of Orange with the following
prophetic verses : —

" Nascitur in Regis Fredericus Monte.

Quid Istud ?
Prsedicunt Musse ; Rex Fredericus erit."

Wegfiihrer's "Life of Louisa of Orange."

88 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

a purple velvet mantle, covered over and over and stiff with gold
embroidered crowns and eagles, and clasped by an agraffe of
three diamonds worth a ton of gold, with a gold sceptre in his
hand, surmounted by the great ruby that the Czar Peter had
presented to him ; and already he felt himself a king in every
inch of his small stature as he placed on his own head the
crown which Kolbe presented to him on bended knees. That
ceremony concluded, he adjourned with all his train, and big
with all his new majesty, to the chamber of Sophia Charlotte,
and now " la victime " was indeed to be "immolee."* She
was attired in gold brocade, with a stomacher of diamonds, and
a spray of magnificent pearls on her bosom, and she, too, wore
a velvet mantle covered with gold embroidery, and a gold crown
on her grand black hair, and she looked, indeed, every inch a
Queen, so that the poet Besser says " she seemed to adorn her
jewels, and the courtiers felt they must not congratulate the
Queen on receiving the crown, but the crown for receiving such
a Queen." She knelt to receive it from the hands of her hus-
band, but as the ceremony was long and tedious, she, it is said,
absently refreshed herself with a pinch of snuff, which so
shocked the King that he remonstrated with her with great
solemnity on her want of a due sense of her position. Then
followed a long ceremony in the church, and after that a ban-
quet. The next day the new King instituted the order of the
Prussian Black Eagle, and all the rest of the month was de-
voted to feastings and rejoicings, whilst the Queen was sighing
for the quiet of Liitzelburg, and writing to Leibnitz that the
festivities of the Court only made her still more regret the philo-
sophical conversations which they had so often held together.

In the train of Macclesfield, who was this year the bearer of
the call of the house of Hanover to the ultimate succession of
the English throne, was the well-known Toland, an Irishman,
who had made himself infamous for his bold and blasphemous
writings against religion. Sophia Charlotte had heard much
* Letter to La Pollnitz, "Qu'en penses tu? La victime sera-t-elle immolee?"

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 89

of this man, and she now became desirous of seeing him, and
hearing from his own lips the extraordinary assertions which
were said to have proceeded from him. We accordingly find
him shortly afterwards at Berlin, where he held a long discus-
sion in the presence of the Queen, and openly disputed the
authority of the New Testament, with Beausobre, one of the
clergymen of the French colony. Toland afterwards published
an account of this journey, in which he thus describes the
Prussian Queen : — " She is the most beautiful princess of her
time, and not inferior to any man in depth of understanding/'
"I never in my whole life heard any one who unveiled the
insufficiency or sophistry of an adversary's argument more
skilfully, or discovered the strength or weakness of a position
more quickly than she." He also published in 1704 his
" Letters to Serena," which he pretended had been addressed
to her, but which it is at least certain that she had never seen.

In the beginning of the year 1702 Sophia Charlotte paid a
visit to Hanover. The Margrave Albert (the King's half bro-
ther), despite the inclemency of the season, persisted in acting
as coachman on the journey thither, clad in a velvet coat
and silk stockings. On this occasion those famous carnival
festivities took place, the report of which so excited the King's
anger that he did not entirely forget or forgive the Queen's
participation in them for more than a year. For a description
of these certainly somewhat extraordinary diversions we are
also indebted to the pen of the great philosopher Leibnitz ; it
was a " classic masquerade," representing a feast ; the description
of which is given by Petronius. The modern " Trimalcionus "
was the Raugraf Charles Maurice, the illegitimate son of the
Elector Palatine, Charles Louis. The Duchess of Orleans says
of the E/augraf that " he would have been a perfect philosopher
had he not been such a lover of wine, but he was blind drunk
every day at Berlin." Yet merry and talented, witty and wild,
with all his faults he was a great favourite with the Queen. His
part suited well with his character, as the trophies d'armes of

90 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Trimalciomis were empty bottles. The Queen, the Elector
George of Hanover, and their youngest brother, all took part in
the masque. One of the standing jests of the day was, that the
carver was hight Coupe, in order that Trimalcion might call
and command him at the same time, in imitation of the "Carpus"
of Petronius. From one pie, when it was opened, escaped live
birds, which were retaken by sportsmen : there was also a Zodiac,
with dishes answering to the twelve signs. " But in the midst
of the merry-making the Goddess of Discord threw one of her
apples ; a quarrel arose between Trimalcion and his wife For-
tunata (Mdlle. Pollnitz) ; he threw a glass of wine over her, and
they could only be reconciled with difficulty." However, every-
thing terminated in the " most agreeable manner in the world."
These extracts will no doubt suffice as a specimen of the " Lust-
bark eiten " of the times, in which a degree of licence, together
with coarseness and frivolity, prevailed, which astonishes the
more refined taste of modern days, and to which the high-
minded Queen does not seem to have been altogether superior,
although her Court is said to have smiled like " a fair green
island " out of the sea of that " disgusting roughness and fri-
volity," " the reproach of which," says Niebuhr, " amidst all
the other German Courts^ strikes that of Frederic I. in full
measure."

We must now return to the Prince Royal, whose conduct
about this time cost his mother some of the bitterest moments
she had ever experienced. He was now fourteen years of age,
and the turbulence of his childhood had developed with his
growth, and strengthened with his strength. He was rough
and rude, and showed no taste for any of those things which
his mother most prized ; books he hated, and none but martial
music pleased his ear ; whilst instead of attending to his dancing-
master's lessons of elegance, he preferred being present at
the drill, or lying in the sun with his face greased, to give it
a brown and martial appearance. To indulge his military taste
he had been allowed to form two companies of cadets of noble

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 91

houses, of his own age, one of which he commanded, and
his cousin, the Prince of Courland, the other. In order to show
that she sympathized with his pursuits, the Queen used some-
times to be present at the exercises of these little troops, on
which Frederic William spent all his pocket-money, and all the
time which he was allowed from his studies, and enforced
attention to those accomplishments which he abhorred even
more than his studies.

One day his mother came unexpectedly upon him, when, in
a fit of passion, he was dragging his playmate, the Prince of
Courland,* by the hair. The Queen was so horrified at the
excess of rage which her son displayed, that she could scarcely
collect herself to reprimand him coldly for his conduct. His
exploit of kicking young Brandt, one of the pages, down stairs,
completed her dismay. She became absolutely ill with the
anxiety which the affair cost her. A letter of hers to Made-
moiselle Pollnitz, of this time, speaks of the " chagrin " which
she is suffering. " This young man, whom I believed to be
only lively and impetuous, has given proofs of a hardness
which surely derives its origin from a bad heart. ' No/ says
La Billow, ' it was only from avarice/ Heavens ! so much
the worse — avaricious at so tender an age ! One corrects one-
self of other vices, but that increases ; and then of how great
importance is it by the results which it induces. Can compas-
sion and pity find access to a heart governed by interest ?
Dohna is an upright man, he has both probity and nobility of
sentiment, but his failing is also a spirit of economy, and we
correct but indifferently a fault of which we inwardly approve.

* Son of the widowed Elizabeth Sophia of Brandenburg, sister of Frederic I.
She had brought him to Berlin for his education. Frederic William used always
to recall his mother's conduct upon this occasion with severe reprehension, because
when she came upon him with the young Duke of Courland under him on the
ground, and both his hands twisted in his cousin's hair, instead of chastising
him, or going to the aid of the vanquished, she only exclaimed sorrowfully,
"My dear son ! what are you doing?" — Morgenstern, Mitglied des Tabaks Col-
legii. See his " Friedrich Wilhelm I."

92 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

I have lectured him (the Prince) soundly, and as that does not
often happen, I spoke very strongly, and recalled all the in-
stances of his bad conduct upon several other occasions ; added
to this, the complaints which the ladies had made of his saying
rude things to them, caused my anger to reach an excess. Is
this the tone of fine minds ? Is there any greatness in offend-
ing ? What coarseness of mind to insult a sex formed, at least,
to be the object of politeness from man ! The Abbe came in
whilst I was preaching. ' How august is this/ said he, ' I seem
to see Agrippina speaking to Nero/ Indignant at the com-
parison, and shuddering at the augury, I received him very
badly, and he left the room in dismay."

Amongst the papers of the Princess Amelia, Frederic Wil-
liam's daughter, was found a document in his handwriting,
containing a confession of all his faults, and a solemn promise
to his parents of amendment, especially in the errors of want
of politeness, and too great familiarity with inferiors.

The Queen now commenced a correspondence with M.
Schmettan, the Prussian Ambassador at the Hague, in which
she expresses her wish that the affairs of the succession of
Orange, which by the death of King William III. was claimed
by Frederic, might require the presence of the Prince Royal,
and thus, by calling him away from the associations of his
boyhood, and subjecting his mind to the polish of foreign in-
tercourse, rub off" the excrescences of that character, the strength
and originality of which threatened to degenerate into eccen-
tricity and brutality.

The failure of this project, which, had it been then carried
out, might probably have effected all that the Queen desired, is
shown by another letter, written by her later in the same
month. Despairing of being able to send her son away from
home, and resolved to " take advantage of what was unavoid-
able,"— as a last resource, she again writes to Mademoiselle
Polmitz, to tell Dohna not to oppose any disposition to gallantry
that he might evince, only to endeavour to guide it to some

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 93

object calculated to improve and soften his disposition, and
polish his manners; but his roughness in female society,
was indeed only caused by his shyness towards the other sex,
which, throughout his whole life, he treated with respect,
although his opinion of women was not particularly exalted.
Unfortunately, too, his youthful passion for the Margravine
Caroline of Anspach, who was five years older than himself,
and who always treated him as a mere boy, and the mockery
with which this attachment was assailed at Hanover, helped to
aggravate his natural shyness. With respect to this early love
affair, Morgenstern says, " His passion did not cease, although
the object of it, by her mother's and grandmother's directions,
treated him harshly." " There seems scarcely a doubt that if
the Margravine Caroline of Anspach, instead of scornfully
rejecting the youthful lover, had endeavoured gently to con-
vince him of the impossibility of a union, and if the electoral
Prince George Augustus had remonstrated with him kindly,
instead of with mockery and scorn, the crown Prince would
have resigned himself, and there would not have existed such
an obstinate attachment, nor such a long-continued resentment
in a forgiving heart like that of Frederic William. The electoral
Princess Sophia also was far too fond of a joke, or of anything
laughable, to make a serious representation to her grandson,
and the measure of her courtesy had more of salt and pepper
than of honey in it." And when at length the Prince of
Prussia did leave his father's Court for foreign travel, his cha-
racter was already too much formed to admit of great benefit
being derived from new associations.

One of the often-recurring misunderstandings between the
Courts of Berlin and Hanover now demanded the presence of
the Electress Sophia, in her usual office of mediatrix ; and, as
usual, she successfully employed her softening influence on the
mind of Frederic, the managing of whose weaknesses cost fewer
scruples to her than to her daughter. The power of Warten-

94 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

berg had now become very great,* and a feeling by no means
friendly was entertained by him, or rather by his wife, towards
the Queen, for though she had at length consented to receive
the Countess, Sophia Charlotte could not prevail upon herself
to abstain from addressing her in French, a language of which
the low-bred lady was wholly ignorant, and being there-
fore unable to reply, the witticisms of the Court had been
levelled against her on more than one occasion. Finding this
to be the case, Sophia here also interposed her good offices, and
even invited the Countess to Hanover, the effect of which
emollient was quickly shown by the increased complaisance both
of the Countess and her husband.

We have at various times spoken of the Queen's love for
music ; her well-known delight in this art led many of the best
masters of the time to resort to her Court. It was for her that
Ariosti composed that opera, f the wonderful overture to which,
with its wild bewildering melodies and strange outbursts of
harsh discord, now entranced, now almost stunned the ear of the
perplexed listener. Corelli was her favourite composer. Buo-
noncini also spent here much of his time ; hither came the
young Handel, the disciple of Ariosti, at the age of fifteen, and
astonished the Queen by his extraordinary talent ; here also
rang the sweet voices of Paolina, Fridolin, and Regina Schonaes,
whilst most of the other stars of the musical world of that day
shone from time to time upon the firmament of a Court where
they were sure of a just appreciation of their talents.

On the marriage of the King's brother, the Margrave Albert
to Princess Maria, the daughter of the widowed Duchess of

* To such a pitch had the arrogance of Count Kolbe Wartenberg arisen, relates
Count C. Dohna, that upon one occasion, when the latter5 s brother, Count
Alexander, entertained the King at dinner, that meal was delayed, and the King
kept waiting for some time, because the Prime Minister had not yet arrived,
and it was not thought politic to sit down to table without him.

f For description of this opera, see Varnhagen von Ense "Leben der Konigen,
S. C." It was performed on the occasion of the marriage of the Margrave Philip
William of Schwedt, in 1699.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 95

Courland, the direction of the festivities attendant upon
which the King left wholly to the Queen, as he did not entirely
approve the match/* Buononcinr's opera of Polifemo was
brought out, the Queen herself performed in it, seated at a
piano in the midst of the orchestra, and accompanied by some
of the best masters of the day.

It was in 1703 also that those famous discussions took place
between the Vota Pere, confessor of John Sobieski, and the
Protestant divines of Berlin, on the authority of the writings
of the Fathers, in which, despite the presence of the Queen, of
whom I/Enfant, a clergyman of the Erench colony, quoted
" Olli subrisit vultu quo cuncta serenat " Vota lost his
temper, and afterwards wrote that letter of apology, which drew
from the Queen a very long and very learned reply. But as
the subject would not interest the generality of my readers, and
as the learning is supposed to have been supplied by those
divines who had taken part in the controversy, I will not
insert it.f

The end of the year 1704 was marked by the appearance of
the Duke of Marlborough as English Ambassador, f at the
Court of Berlin, where he was honoured with the favour, and
assisted in his mission by the influence of the Queen. The

* When the Duchess of Courland married the sexagenarian Margrave Christian
Ernest of Baireuth, her step-daughter, the Princess Maria of Courland, remained
with the Queen ; the Margrave Albert fell so much in love with her, that, it is
said, on the King refusing' his consent to the marriage, he threw himself at his
feet, and entreated Frederic either to kill him, or to grant permission for the
union. The King was so touched that he yielded the desired permission, but
would not be present at the marriage.

The Margrave Albert was very hasty, but his anger was merely a "feu de
paille," and evaporated almost before it had time for expression. He flew into a
rage with his wife twenty times a day, and begged her pardon the moment after-
wards, for he was passionately attached to her. — Pollnitz.

•f* For the letter and controversy, see Erman's "Life of Soph. Ch." Appendix.

J Frederic renewed his alliance with the maritime powers on finding that
Charles XII. disregarded his remonstrances upon the election of Stanislaus Leck-
sinski to the crown of Poland. Marlborough came to arrange the articles of the
treaty with England, as Frederic's part of which 8000 Prussians were sent off for
operations in Italy.

96 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

August following his departure, the Prince Iloyal also left
Berlin with the intention of visiting England by way of
Holland. This first parting from her darling son, whom,
despite his faults and his utter dissimilarity of character, Sophia
Charlotte idolized completely, cost her much grief; and a sad
presentiment that this might be, as indeed it proved, the last
time that she should behold him, seems to have overshadowed
her mind. On her escritoire was afterwards found a heart drawn
by her hand, with the inscription "il est parti." Towards
the end of the year, Sophia of Hanover, fearful that the
Countess of Wartenberg might throw obstacles in the way of
her daughter's usual presence at the carnival festivities at
Hanover (for Sophia Charlotte had not long been able to
maintain her intercourse with that lady on the same amicable
footing as that on which her mother had placed it), began to
lay her plans for once more mollifying the resentment of that
powerful personage. She proposed to invite her, if the thing
could not be accomplished otherwise, to accompany the Queen,
who wrote to Leibnitz, that she would submit even to this
annoyance rather than not pay the wonted visit. After much,
and somewhat difficult negotiation, this arrangement was
finally made, and Sophia Charlotte joyfully commenced her
preparations for the journey. January 12th she wrote to her
son, who was then in Holland, "saying that she had time for
but a few words as she was much occupied with her intended
journey to Hanover, and that thence she hoped, if the King
again went to Holland, to be able to accompany him, and
to have once more the pleasure of embracing her child. This
letter also joyously announced the news from Vienna, that
the General Heisler had gained a complete victory over the
enemy.

Unwilling herself to throw any difficulty in the way of her
visit to her mother, whose disappointment she knew would be
extreme if she did not go, Sophia Charlotte concealed the fact
that she had been slightly indisposed for some days previous to

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 97

her intended departure ; but upon the road she was so unwell
as to be obliged to stop at Magdeburg. On the 16th, feeling
herself better, she continued her route, and arrived at Hanover
on the 18th. There her indisposition again returned with
greater force, but finding that her mother was herself obliged
to keep her room on account of some slight illness, she persisted
in appearing at a ball in the evening, in order not to disappoint
the assembled guests. The consequences of this kind, but im-
prudent step, were soon apparent in a violent and frightful ac-
cession of illness; she was bled the next night, but without
materially alleviating the symptoms. On the 20th she was
much worse, and on the 23rd the fever increased rapidly. It
was the opinion of Hertz and other physicians,* that the nature
of her illness, which proved to be abscess of the throat, was not
understood by her medical attendants. However that might be,
it soon became apparent to Sophia Charlotte, as well as to those
around her, that her hours of life were numbered, and she at
once prepared to meet death with the resignation of a Christian,
and the fortitude of a philosopher. She wrote 'to Frederic,
thanking him for the many marks of love and kindness which
he had constantly bestowed upon her, and recommending her
servants to his care. Afterwards calmly, and even cheerfully,
she awaited the summons which was to call her, still in the
prime of her life and the bloom of her beauty, from so much
that made life still attractive. The only thing on which she
expressed much anxiety was, the shock which her loss would
prove to her mother.

To Mademoiselle Pollnitz, whom she saw weeping bitterly,
she said, " Do not pity me, I am about to satisfy my curiosity
upon the causes of things which Leibnitz could never explain
to me, and I shall provide the King the spectacle of a funeral
procession, which will give him occasion to display all imagi-
nable magnificence." t

* Blester Monatschrift.

t "Mem, pour servir a 1'Hist. de Brand." Fred. Great.

98 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

M. de la Bergerie,* the pastor of the French congregation at
Hanover, was summoned, in the absence of the German chap-
lain, to the Queen's bedside, at one o'clock in the night of the
last day of January. She received him with a smile, saying,
"Ah ! M. la Bergerie, one recognises one's friends in times of
need. You come to offer me your services at a time in which
I can do nothing for you in return, I thank you for it." He
knelt by her bedside, and pronounced a somewhat long exhor-
tation, which he has recorded, and in which he dwelt so much
on the temptations to the love of worldly pomps, which espe-
cially beset sovereigns, that Sophia Charlotte, whose besetting
sins these certainly had not been, glanced with a smile at Ma-
demoiselle Pollnitz. As she was then exhausted, La Bergerie
left her for the time j he would have returned shortly afterwards,
but was told by her brother the Elector, who was then with her,
that she said she had for twenty years made a serious study of
religion, that no doubts rested upon her mind, and that he could
tell her nothing which was not well known to her. She had a
long private interview with her eldest brother, and also with the
Prince Ernest Augustus. She then remained praying in silence
for a long time. She afterwards kindly bade adieu to all her
attendants, calling out to her two Turkish servants who stood
at the door, " Adieu, Ali ; adieu, Hassan." La Bergerie once
more came and knelt in prayer by her bedside, when suddenly
taking her brother's hand, she exclaimed, "Dear brother, I am
suffocated." They were her last words. The abscess in her
throat had burst, instant death ensued, and Sophia Charlotte's
fair and gentle spirit had indeed soared into that mysterious
region whose boundless treasury of knowledge it had, whilst on
earth, so longingly striven to penetrate.

Thus, February 1st, 1705, in the thirty- seventh year of her
age, died Sophia Charlotte, the first Queen of Prussia ; f and if

* See Erman.

•f- It is curious that all the most remarkable events of her life took place upon
a Sunday. She was born, christened and married on Sunday, and on that day
also she died.

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 99

in the intellectual "curiosity" and the "philosophic" resigna-
tion which are described as marking the closing scene of her
life, we find but little of the humble faith of the dying Chris-
tian, it must be remembered not only that these expressions are
recorded as issuing from her lips by the pen of a man who him-
self had professedly no religious creed,* but also, that in com-
mon with most of the German princesses of that day, she was
not allowed to adopt any decided views upon the subject of re-
ligion until her marriage.

This vile system had, with Sophia Charlotte, gone nigh to
produce the result which seems almost inevitable on a mind
endowed with so large a development of the reasoning powers
as hers — that of making her an atheist. She had set herself,
by the light of her own reason only, as it were, to inquire
whether religion was necessary; and Divine Providence had
mercifully guided her to a conclusion which was scarcely to be
expected from such a process, for she became convinced both of
the truth of revelation and of man's need of a Saviour, and de-
clared herself unhesitatingly to be a Christian. Nevertheless, a
large intermixture both of rationalism and philosophy unques-
tionably always obscured the purity of her faith, and may, pro-
bably, even on her deathbed, have dictated expressions still
savouring strongly of the pride of reason, such as those which
have been quoted.

J need here make but few remarks upon her character, which
my readers may have gathered from her actions. Although
the judgment of an almost contemporary writer, who says she
had " all the virtues, and none of the faults of her sex," may
appear too partial, yet that which he proceeds to state of her
was indisputably true — that nothing either in her conduct, or
in any of the relations of her life, ever gave rise to the least
suspicion against the integrity of her morals. She was at
least a virtuous, if we cannot add, a tender wife; yet who
could wonder that such a woman should fail to attach herself

* Frederic the Great.

H 2

100 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

to a man who, by his own grandson's description, was " great
in little things, and little in great ones ?" * Erman concludes
that a little philosophical indolence in the depths of her nature
may have accounted for her dislike to mix herself in the politics
of the time, and this indeed seems more than probable. At
all events, she did more towards the polishing of manners, and
the forwarding of education and science at Berlin, than any
woman has done before or since ; and sadly indeed did the
Court degenerate after her purifying influence no longer shone
upon it. Still also does the Prussian revere with filial affec-
tion the memory of that first beautiful " mother of the land,"
whose mantle none was found worthy to inherit, until the fair
and unfortunate Louisa of Mecklenburgh Strelitz rivalled her
predecessor, at once, in beauty and in the devotion with which
her people regarded her.

The dismay and desolation which at Hanover took the place
of the carnival festivities may be more easily imagined than
described. When the news reached King Frederic, he fainted,
and remained so long without consciousness that his medical
man thought it necessary to bleed him. Upon his recovery he
shut himself in his room, and refused to see any one for several
days ; but the cares of the funeral procession, as Sophia Char-
lotte had rightly predicted, served in a measure to divert his
grief.

The remains lay in state in the old castle chapel at Hanover
for some time, and were then, with much funeral pomp, con-
veyed to Berlin. At every town where the procession stopped;
the same honours were paid to the Queen's lifeless remains
which had greeted her while living ; and the mournful parade
of the entry into Berlin fully justified a remark which fell from
her lips a short time before her death — " Helas ! Que de cere-
monies inutiles on va faire pour ce miserable corps."

Sophia of Hanover was inconsolable for the death of that
child whose affection had been her main support for so many
* Frederic the Great, "Mem. pour servir."

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 101

years. La Pollnitz, the favourite maid of honour, unable to
endure Berlin without the presence of her mistress and friend,
retired to Hanover, where she remained in Sophia's service.
She returned once afterwards to Berlin, as we have already
stated, in 1722.

To Leibnitz, who had been unable to attend the Queen upon
her journey to Hanover, her death proved a heavy misfortune.
Various allusions to the loss he had experienced may be found
in his letters, not only of that date but at a much later period ;
but as space is precious, I forbear to insert them, thus termi-
nating the memoir of the first Queen of Prussia.

LIFE OF

SOPHIA LOUISA,

OF MECKLENBURG SCHWERIN,

SECOND QUEEN OF PRUSSIA.

OF the three years which intervened between the events last
recorded and Frederic's third marriage, a short review is here
necessary.

The pretensions of the Countess of Wartenberg, which had
been kept under at least some degree of restraint by the late
Queen's dignity and superiority of mind, assumed after her
death so insolent a character, that, to use Pollnitz's expression,
" the Court became a perfect desert." The attractions, too, of
its now single ornament, the Margravine Albert,* the twin star
whose shining had of late seemed to add new lustre to Sophia
Charlotte's beauty and intelligence, were so often withdrawn
by her husband's sudden freaks of jealousy, that she could
scarcely be said to belong to the Court; and although the
King held assemblies three times a week, the Princesses of the
blood and the other ladies of the Court, not choosing to be
flouted by the assumptions of the arrogant and light-famed
plebeian, Madame de Wartenberg, gradually ceased to frequent
them.

The death of the King's only daughter,t who now expired

* The Princess Maria of Courland, of whose marriage mention has been
already made.

f She had in 1700 been married to her cousin, the hereditary Prince of Hesse
Cassel, as before mentioned. Her mother, it will be remembered, the Elector's
first wife, was Elizabeth of Hesse Cassel.

SOPHIA LOUISA. 103

after a long and mysterious illness, added to the grief which
the death of the Queen had caused him, so affected his health,
and preyed upon his spirits, that his counsellors, to distract his
attention from his sorrows, urged him to take into considera-
tion the propriety of the marriage of the crown Prince, who,
upon hearing the fatal tidings of his mother's decease, had
immediately returned to Berlin.

Several Princesses, a match with either of whom might prove
advantageous for the interests of Prussia, were accordingly pro-
posed for Frederic's approval ; but the inclination of the crown
Prince deciding for the Princess Sophia Dorothea of Hanover,
his marriage with her was arranged, and took place the following
year, 1706.

Meantime the war of the Spanish succession was raging in
Europe. It was in this year that the Prussian forces, under the
Prince of Anhalt Dessau, so much distinguished themselves in
the decisive action before Turin, that the Duke of Savoy wrote
to the King of Prussia, " The enemy's army has been com-
pletely defeated in its own lines before my town of Turin ; the
troops of your Majesty have had the greatest share in this
battle. I cannot enough praise their bravery, nor the extra-
ordinary valour of M. the Prince of Anhalt."

Louis XIV., weary at length of a war which drained France
of men and money, and dispirited by the terrible defeats which
his armies had sustained, not only at Turin, but at Blenheim,
Ramillies, and Oudenarde, was inclined to pacific measures ; but
the allies, triumphing in repeated victories, would not consent,
on such terms as France could accept, to a peace which, after
some years more of destructive warfare, they were content to
sign, on far less advantageous terms, at Utrecht.

Warlike operations accordingly recommenced, and the crown
Prince, leaving his bride, went to join the army under Marl-
borough, in Flanders. He remained in the field during the
campaign, and was subsequently present at the battle of Mal-
plaquet.

104 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

This was the period;* too, in which the arms of Sweden,
having triumphed over the coalition which had threatened the
dominions of her young monarch upon his accession, were still
supreme in the dominions of the dethroned King of Poland,
for the dreadful day of Poltawa had not as yet checked the vic-
torious career of Charles XII.

A curious anecdote is related of the wife of the Swedish
Minister, Count Piper, which so well illustrates the terror with
which the rapid conquests of the King of Sweden had inspired
the neighbouring Powers, that I insert it.

The Countess Piper passed through Berlin on her road to
join her husband, and as the wife of the powerful minister of
Frederic's powerful ally, she was received with much distinction,
and lodged in the hotel destined for the accommodation of
ambassadors and foreign princes. Unfortunately, she was put
into a suite of rooms, newly decorated with tapestry, the design
of which represented the victories of the great Elector, during
his campaign against the Swedes. The Countess imagined that
this had been done purposely to insult her and her country,
and declared that she would not remain in a house where such
an indignity had been offered her. However, orders were
speedily given that the tapestries should be changed and every
apology offered ; and the lady suffered her patriotic jealousy to
be for the moment appeased, on the King himself apologizing to
her for the unintentional offence she had received. A few days
afterwards, passing over the Pont Neuf, where Schliiter's mag-
nificent statue of the great Elector was then in process of
erection, she fancied that the fettered slaves, grouped at the
base, were intended for Swedes, and insisted on their being
taken down. Had she been Countess anything else, this extra-
vagant demand might have only raised a laugh at her expense;
but she was the Countess Piper, and in all haste Frederic
ordered her wishes to be instantly complied with. This was
the easier of execution, since this portion of the monument
was as yet only executed in plaister.

SOPHIA LOUISA. 105

One of the most singular occurrences of this period, when
the darkness of ignorance was still struggling with the advanc-
ing rays of science, and when men had still not given up
the idea of the philosopher's stone, was the appearance of the
" Gold-maker/' Count Caetano de Ruggiero, a Neapolitan, at
the Prussian Court. He had come to Berlin in 1705, with
various high-sounding titles, from the foreign States, where he
had been a sojourner, attached to his name. He travelled in a
splendid four-horsed equipage, with a large train of servants, in
liveries of scarlet and gold. He and his wife lived in a magni-
ficent house, and were served in magnificent style.

Knowing that the King delighted in displaying his generosity
to strangers and foreigners, Ruggiero begged leave to place
Tiimself under his protection, from the persecution of foreign
Powers.

The neighbouring Court of Dresden was just then all in
commotion at the marvellous gold-making achievements of a
certain Baron Bottiger with his mysterious powder. Frederic
had repeatedly, but vainly, claimed this man, who was a Mag-
deburger, as his subject. When, therefore, the Count Ruggiero
requested to be allowed to exhibit proofs of his powers of
changing other less valuable metal into gold, the proposition
was eagerly accepted, and a day was appointed for the experi-
ment, which was to take place in one of the apartments of
the Palace.

At the appointed time, the crown Prince, who was naturally
somewhat suspicious, having, as he had stipulated, furnished
the requisite utensils, the powers of the Gold-maker were put
to the proof. The experiment took place in the presence of the
King, the High Chamberlain Wartenberg, the Grand Marshal
Wittgenstein, and the crown Prince, who himself stirred the
contents of the crucible; and Count Ruggiero succeeded, by
means of a certain marvellous tincture, of a reddish colour,
mixed into the compound by the Prince himself, in changing
" a pound of quicksilver into a pound of pure gold." In vain

106 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

did the acutest of the Berlin goldsmiths try and test it, it was
gold, the purest, finest gold.

The King was delighted beyond measure at the success of
the experiment, and nattered himself that he should soon be
richer than the great Mogul. The wonderful stranger then
presented him with a small quantity of this magical red tinc-
ture, and also of a white one, and promised within sixty days
to prepare so much of the same compounds as should produce
six million Thalers' worth of gold and silver.

The Count Ruggiero, as one whom the King delighted to
honour, was forthwith installed into the palace of the late
minister Danckelmann, and fed from the kingly table. Of
course, it was unnecessary, if not insulting, to offer money to a
man who had it in his power to produce more than the mines
of Peru. The King sent him, as a testimony of his regard,
twelve flasks of old French wine !

As the stipulated sixty days drew near their close, the
splendid Italian began to show symptoms of restlessness ; he
made long excursions, first to Hildesheim, then to Stettin. The
King, a little uneasy at these absences, sent him gracious letters
in his own handwriting, his portrait set in brilliants, and an
officer's commission. The adept had been rather dismayed at
receiving nothing more substantial than French wine ; a little
encouraged at this, therefore, he returned to Berlin, and began
to make conditions ; at first he demanded 50,000 Thalers as his
terms, and from this, gradually abated his demand to the sum
of 1000 ducats to take him back to Italy.

The suspicions awakened by this strange conduct were con-
firmed by letters from Vienna and other Courts, upon the
pockets of whose rulers he had made similar experiments, by
converting quicksilver into gold for their use, while he converted
their credulity into ducats for his own.

The King demanded the fulfilment of the Gold-maker's pro-
mise ; Ruggiero fled to Hamburg, whence he was brought back
and imprisoned. After being found guilty as an impostor, he

SOPHIA LOUISA. 107

finished his career in 1708, by being hung, arrayed in tinsel
robes, upon a gilded gibbet.

The birth of an heir to the throne in 1707 caused great,
though short-lived, rejoicings.* In honour of the event, and
at the intercession of the crown Princess, Frederic liberated
his old minister, Danckelmann. This freedom was coupled
with the restriction of residing within fourteen miles of Berlin.

The crown Prince had a deservedly high opinion of the
character and talents of this minister, and on his accession he
offered to restore him to office ; but advancing age, and long
years of imprisonment, had curbed the ambition jof the states-
man, and taught the fallen minister full many a bitter lesson
of the instability of power, and the gray-headed and time-
bowed old man declined again to climb the giddy elevation
whereon, even in the pride of his manhood and the full activity
of his mental powers, he had been unable to maintain his
position.

The King's health being still in a declining state, he was
induced to go to take the baths of Carlsbad, in Bohemia, whilst
the crown Prince was recalled from Flanders to act as Regent
during his absence. This journey of Fredericks was taken
advantage of by the ministers, Wittgenstein, Ilgen, and Biber-
stein,f to put a plan of their own in execution.

Jealous of the influence which Frederic William began to
assume in the government, and uneasy at the decided ill-will
which he manifested towards themselves, they had formed a
scheme of inducing the King to marry again, hoping that by
thus raising to the throne a Princess who would owe her eleva-
tion to them, they should secure to themselves an auxiliary able

* The child did not long survive its birth.

*h Wittgenstein held the post of obermarschall, or as it was then called Mare-
chal de la Gour. Ilgen was of the Burger class ; he was Minister of Foreign
Affairs ; he was engaged in the crown Prince's service also. Biberstein was ap-
pointed to the Oberherold-meistership ; he was also employed in several foreign
missions as ambassador, in which capacity he visited England in 1712. — See
Vehse.

108 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

and willing to assist them by her influence, and thus to coun-
terbalance the growing power of the crown Prince.

The King, passing on his journey within a short distance of
the abode of his half-sister, the Duchess of Saxe Zeitz, turned
aside thither to visit her. The ministers improved this oppor-
tunity to win over the Duchess to support their views, and pro-
pose the matter for the King's consideration. Furnished by
them with a basis of operations, Madame de Zeitz commenced
her attack. She introduced the topic, as if accidentally, during
a conversation with her brother, dwelling upon the misfortune
which the failure of a succession would be to Prussia, should the
opinion of the crown Princess's medical attendants (an opinion
probably provided for the occasion) prove correct, that she could
never again give birth to a child. She then inquired why he did
not marry again. The King replied, though not as if displeased
with the idea, that at his advanced age he should find no
Princess willing to accept him, did he make such an attempt.
To this objection Madame de Zeitz replied that, on the contrary,
she could at once name several Princesses who would be greatly
flattered by such a proposal. The King finally promised to
reflect upon the suggestion, and the conversation terminated.

He mentioned the Duchess's proposition to Wittgenstein
and Biberstein, who, as if the idea had been suggested to them
for the first time, received it with affected surprise and most
unaffected delight. They went into raptures at its wisdom,
assuring the King that it really appeared like a divine inspira-
tion on the part of Madame de Zeitz, so exactly had she suited
her advice to the emergency ; whilst Biberstein, with tears in
his eyes, conjured Frederic to listen to the prayer of the people
addressed to him by the voice of his sister. The King, nearly
convinced, next applied to Wartenberg, who, fearing to lose
ground with the crown Prince, declined to advise. Count
Christopher Dohna, too, was perplexed by a similar question as
to what he thought of the matter; but although, from courtesy
and policy combined, he would advance no opinion, he was

SOPHIA LOUISA. 109

nevertheless, too much attached to his old master not to let his
judgment upon the point be divined.* Frederic's other coun-
sellors, however, did not suffer the matter to drop. Several
other ladies were suggested for his consideration, amongst
others, the Princess of Hesse Homberg, Charlotte Dorothea,
of Brandenburg, Culmbach, and the Princess of Nassau
Dietz, sister of the Prince of Orange, Statthalter of Fries-
land. The King inclined towards this lady, under the idea
that the differences with regard to the Orange succession to
which, on the death of William III. of England, he laid claim
in right of his mother, Louisa of Orange, might thus be settled.
Baron Chalsacf was therefore sent to the Prince to make the
proposal. It was accepted, and all was arranged, saving
Frederic's demand, that in imitation of the widowed Duchess
of John Frederic of Hanover, who had carried her daughter's
train upon the celebration of her marriage with Joseph, King
of the Romans, afterwards emperor, — the mother of the Princess
of Nassau Dietz should, in like manner, bear her daughter's
train upon the occasion of her marriage with himself.

With this stipulation, however, that lady refused to comply,
and on the matter being pressed, she said that sooner than
consent to such a humiliation she would renounce the marriage
for her daughter altogether. Frederic took offence at this, and
the negotiations were broken off. But the Duchess, his sister,
was indefatigable in the cause ; she next suggested the Princess
Sophia Louisa of Mecklenburg Schwerin, the sister of the
reigning Duke. This match she further recommended, as
strengthening Frederic's claim to the Mecklenburg succession. J

The King was by no means averse to the idea of a match in
this quarter; negotiations were, therefore, once more set on
foot, and an interview was arranged between him and the
Princess Sophia Louisa. This meeting took place at Ilosenthal,
near Oranienburg, whither she came accompanied by her mother.

* Dohna's Memoirs. "t CLalsac belonged to the French colony.

+. A claim upon the eventual succession of Mecklenburg had been asserted by
the Kurbrandenburg family since the year 1442.

110 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

The Princess was then only twenty-three years of age whilst
Frederic was fifty-one, but this disparity of years does not
seem to have shocked either party.

The King was much pleased with the Princess during the
half hour's conversation which he had with her at Rosenthal.
Proposals were now formally made to the Duke of Mecklenburg
for his sister's hand, and as formally accepted; all preliminaries
were settled without delay and the day for the ceremony fixed.
The marriage took place at Mecklenburg, Wittgenstein acting
as the King's representative on the occasion.

The next day the Princess set out for Berlin. She was accom-
panied by her mother, her brother, and others of her relatives,
as far as the frontiers of the Prussian dominions. She was
received in great state at some distance from Berlin, by Frederic,
who had made splendid preparations to greet her arrival. He
then left her in order to return to the capital himself to arrange
for her state entry, which took place on the 27th. The bride
and bridegroom repaired to the church on the 28th, to receive
the nuptial benediction. Frederic's taste for magnificence had
exhausted itself in the decorations which had been lavished
upon this festive occasion. The streets were hung with
tapestry, a boarded way covered with crimson carpeting, and
shaded by a magnificent awning, was prepared for the passage
of the bridal party. The King, dressed in gold brocade
garnished with diamonds, led the procession, and was followed
by the Queen with her royal crown upon her head. She was
supported by her step-son the crown Prince, and the Margrave
Albert Philip, her brother-in-law ; whilst her train was borne by
six young ladies, all dressed alike in silver brocade ; the four
Princesses, also dressed alike, carried the royal mantle. There
were strewers of flowers, and players of music, and plenty of
spectators ; nevertheless, says an eye-witness, an air of gloom
hung over the whole proceeding. Even the pleasure of the King
himself had been damped by an announcement recently made
to him by the crown Prince, that his wife, the Princess Sophia

SOPHIA LOUISA. Ill

Dorothea, was in circumstances which gave reason to hope for
the birth of an heir ; and, bridegroom as he was, Frederic had
confessed, that had he been aware of the fact sooner he would
have contracted no new marriage ties himself.

The charge of forming the new Queen's household was com-
mitted to Wittgenstein, the Grand Marshal of the Court. He
selected as Oberhofmeisterin, his mother-in-law the Countess
of Wittgenstein Valendar. According to Pollnitz's descrip-
tion, this lady does not appear to have been very well qualified
for her office. " She had never left the depths of Wetteravia,"
says he, " save to go to the fair of Frankfort, where she had
contracted all the pride of the Countesses of the empire, and
though she had the best will in the world to act her part, she
was far better fitted to figure at Wetzlar (at the Eeichsham-
mergerichte), than at Court."

Count Wittgenstein's sister-in-law was the chief of the
maids of honour, who were all ladies of the highest families in
the kingdom; although, according to the same author, they
were no better calculated to grace a Court than the Oberhof-
meisterin, for they were all young without the least " teinture
du monde," vain and haughty, with manners like those of
Byron's " budding Miss " —

" All giggle, blush, half pertness and half pout."

Amongst the regulations made by Wittgenstein for the new
household was one to the effect that no gentleman below the
rank of a count should dine at the table of the maids of honour,
a measure which was subject of much dissatisfaction to those
young ladies, who would have been " very glad to marry gentle-
men " without that title.

It would have been indispensable for the young Queen to
possess considerable knowledge of the world and aplomb her-
self, to neutralize the effect of so much gauchcrie in the manners
of the Court circle of which she was to be the centre. Count
Schwerin, too, her oberhofmeister, although an accomplished
courtier and an amiable man, was not one who was qualified to

112 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

give advice to a young Princess, inexperienced in the ways of a
Court, at the same time that she was called upon to enact so
important a part in it ; consequently, we need not be astonished
if we find that she neither fell into her place with ease, nor
occupied it with dignity.

In addition to the above-mentioned drawbacks, also, she had
been allowed the utmost liberty as regarded her conduct at her
brother's Court. She had been thoughtless and gay, and if
not absolutely indiscreet, at least somewhat heedless as to the
spotlessness of her reputation. She knew that the tongue of
scandal had been busy with her name; she knew, moreover,
that certain rumours had reached even the ears of the King.
Under these circumstances, she took the very wisest resolution
that any similarly-situated Princess could have taken — that of
bringing discredit upon all such reports by the blameless regu-
larity and rectitude of her life and conduct ; and had she been
more happily situated with regard to her female retinue — had she
been fortunate enough to possess even one judicious friend,
either male or female, upon whose counsel she could have relied
— had she herself been endowed with sufficient strength of mind
to carry out her plan independent of extraneous influence — her
elevation to the throne might have been fraught with far happier
consequences to herself than those which will have to be here
recorded; for the King was much taken with her, and was
considerably in love during the early days of their marriage.

Unfortunately, however, her chief companion and confidential
friend was Mdlle. Gravenitz, who had been her dame de compagnie
at the Court of Mecklenburg, and who, if report told truth, had
been more than a little coquettish and indiscreet in the days of her
youth. But having now reached the years " when reason begins
to triumph over the passions, she had taken shelter from scandal
under the cloak of religion," and practised new austerities to
make up for old frailties. This lady, taking advantage of the
Queen's facility of disposition, set before her her own gloomy
severity and cheerless asceticism as the model by which she

SOPHIA LOUISA. 113

should regulate her own future manner of life, thus imposing
an unnatural degree of restraint upon the original gaiety and
animation of her manners, and freezing the open frankness of
her disposition into a chilling reserve — a great misfortune with
a man like Frederic, for whom vivacity possessed much attrac-
tion, more especially as he had been very unwilling in the first
instance to permit the transportation of the soured spinsterhood
of Mdlle. Gravenitz from the Court of Mecklenburg to that of
Berlin.

As the Queen was a Lutheran, moreover, she had chosen the
preacher Porst, of the Nicolaikirche, as her spiritual adviser,
and he had made her acquainted with Francke, the Pietist and
founder of the Orphan House at Halle.

There can be no doubt of the real piety and active and ex-
tensive usefulness of Francke, who laboured in the cause of
education and enlightenment with zeal worthy of a noble work-
man in a noble cause ; yet the influence which he exercised over
the mind of the Queen appears to have been by no means hap-
pily directed ; and although no doubt he secured her co-opera-
tion in his benevolent schemes, still he does not seem to have
taught her either to find an active and healthful occupation in
the fulfilment of those duties to which she was unquestionably
called by her high station, or to seek a natural outlet for her
pent-up warmth of feeling in the direction of sympathy for
others, and in the exercise of those personal charities for which
her position afforded an ample field.

It is painful to find such an aspersion cast by historians upon
the memory of so good a man, yet it seems clear that he rather
fostered than checked the tendency which the Queen's mind
began to assume towards that morbid activity of conscience
which, in temperaments constituted like hers, is but too often a
prelude to mental disease. But Francke was misunderstood and
misrepresented in the times in which he lived, and it may be
that this charge, which has survived to our day, is but a super-
annuated remnant of the malice and folly which then, as well

i

114 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

as now, delighted in bespattering the reputation of a good man.
At all events, the accusation is made by a man who changed
his own profession, we cannot say religion, three times.*

Meantime the crown Princess, despite the predictions of her
husband's enemies, had, in the year 1709, given birth to a
child ; f and though it was not the anxiously-desired male heir
to the kingdom, the event sufficed, nevertheless, to cast a more
cheerful aspect over the face of Prussian affairs, then over-
clouded by the fearful pestilence which had swept away 200,000
souls in its ravages, and the fatality of which was said to have
been chiefly owing to the negligence of those officers (especially
Wittgenstein) to whose charge the wants of the nation had been
committed.

A strange and indecorous scene took place at the christening
of this child. In the new court regulations which had been
made on the recent marriage of the King, Madame de Warten-
berg bad obtained the right to take precedence of all unmarried
Princesses, and even of all married ones whose husbands were
not reigning Princes. The Duchess of Holstein Beck had
actually sold her right of precedence to her for 10,000 Thalers
(which the King paid). With the glow of conscious dignity,
therefore, and with stately step that told of right to take pre-
cedence even of Princesses of the blood, Madame de Warten-
berg walked in her proudly-conspicuous place in the procession

* Pollnitz was a man of great wit and talent, but of a worthless character.
Frederic II. spoke of him, before his accession, as " an infamous fellow, diverting
at table, to be imprisoned afterwards." — (Seckendorfs "Journal Secret.") He
ruined himself completely by his prodigality ; he then turned Roman Catholic, in
order to marry a rich widow, but the marriage did not take place. It is said
Frederic told him that had he been a Protestant he could have given him a vacant
office : Pollnitz soon after informed the King that he was reconverted ; but Fre-
deric replied, "I am very grieved, I have just given away the office, but if you
would become a Jew, I could find you a post ! " Pollnitz' s " Memoires pour Ser-
vir a FHist. des Quatre derniers Souvereins de Brandebourg" are full of life,
anecdote and scandal ; I see but little reason for the accusations of inaccuracy
which several authors bring against them, at least compared with the writings
of others, against whom no such charge has been laid.

f Frederica Wilhelmina, Marchioness of Baireuth.

SOPHIA LOUISA. 115

to the chapel, when suddenly from behind a door where she
had lain perdue, Madame de Lintelo, the wife of the Dutch
ambassador, darted forth, and endeavoured to take the place in
front of her. Madame de Wartenberg was not the woman to
submit to such an infraction of her rights ; Madame de Lintelo
held her vantage-ground ; a tremendous fracas ensued. The
two fair ones betook themselves to the weapons with which
Nature had furnished them, and attacked each other in that
most easily assailable part, the head-dress. Lace and feathers
flew in all directions, and a cloud of powder nearly hid the
combatants from view. In vain did the master of the cere-
monies, Besser, endeavour to separate them, at untold risk of
personal damage in the indiscriminating fury of the affray;
but Madame de Wartenberg had the advantage in point of
muscular strength, and a few hearty cuffs finished the discomfi-
ture of Madame de Lintelo, whilst the victor bore off as a trophy
a lappet from the head-dress of her vanquished foe. Her vic-
tory was rendered yet more complete, when, on afterwards
complaining bitterly to the King of this attempted infraction
of her just claims, he yielded to her representations, and de-
manded an apology from M. de Lintelo; and on his non-com-
pliance with the demand, threatened to withdraw his troops
from Flanders unless the States insisted that their ambassador
should compel his wife to make the requisite apology.

But Madame de Wartenberg' s days of triumph were drawing
to a close. In 1710, at the period of the Jahr Markt at Leipsic,
which then drew a great concourse of the most distinguished
families of the kingdom, and not un frequently royalty itself to
that town, Frederic had gone thither for the purpose of an in-
terview with the King of Poland, who was his debtor to a very
considerable amount, and upon whom he wished to press a
speedy settlement of accounts. During his absence the Queen,
although confined to her apartments by indisposition, was, with
her ladies, busily engaged upon a piece of embroidery which
she destined for a present to the King upon his return.

i 2

116 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

With the ostensible view of doing Madame de Wartenberg
honour, and perhaps with a little private malice in the back-
ground, as she knew that the Countess was not fond of such
employment, she invited her to assist at these labours of the
needle. On the afternoon of the second day spent at the task,
a strange attendant was observed to enter the room, and pre-
sent coffee to Madame de Wartenberg. The Queen inquired
with astonishment into the cause of such a proceeding.
" Oh ! " replied Madame de Wartenberg, carelessly, " it is only
my valet." Justly indignant at her effrontery, the Queen com-
manded her to leave the room. " I think I see myself doing
so," replied the Countess, with a loud laugh. Incensed beyond
bounds by the insolence of this answer, and the manner in
which it was delivered, the Queen called to her attendants to
throw the offender out of the window, but no one was at hand
to obey the command ; and Madame de Wartenberg, thinking
discretion the better part of valour, beat a somewhat hasty
retreat.

On the King's return the Queen lodged a complaint against
the arrogant favourite. The King was very angry, and re-
monstrated with Madame de Wartenberg, insisting upon her
making an ample apology to the Queen, which, being some-
what alarmed at his unwonted firmness, she consented to do,
though she artfully contrived at first to delay, and afterwards
wholly to evade, this humiliation. This event, however, some-
what shook her in the King's favour, and her intimacy with
the English ambassador, Lord Raby, probably did not tend to
re-establish her influence.

This nobleman had gained an extraordinary ascendancy at
the Prussian Court, and his arrogance seems to have been little
short of that of Madame de Wartenberg herself. Pollnitz
relates, that on one occasion, at a much earlier period, he
even declined to remain standing whilst the Princess Caroline
of Anspach was seated at the King's table, little dreaming that
she was one day to be Queen of England. He is said also to

SOPHIA LOUISA. 117

have imprudently boasted that Marlborough held the whole
Prussian ministry in leading strings by means of English pay.
By means of his influence over Madame de Wartenberg he had
certainly succeeded in acquainting himself with many of the
most private affairs of the Prussian Court.

But that which more immediately tended to the disgrace of
Madame de Wartenberg and her husband, was perhaps the
annoyance which her ridiculous claims continually drew upon
Frederic by involving him in difficulties with the ministers of
foreign Powers.

During the visit of the beautiful Russian ambassadress,
Madame de Matuoff,* to Berlin in 1710, she stayed at the
house of Monsieur de Lith, the Russian minister, intending to
remain incognita; but the King sent to invite her to Court.
M. de Lith thought himself bound to return this fete by a
banquet, to which most of the foreign ministers, and of course
M. and Madame de Wartenberg were invited: he was so
anxious that the latter, especially, should honour the festival
with her presence, that he begged the King to use his authority
to induce her to do so. Frederic accordingly desired that
Madame de Wartenberg would comply with M. de Lith's wishes.
On the day in question she was even seen to array herself in her
most splendid apparel, her windows being opposite to those of
M. de Lith's hotel. The banquet awaited but her presence,
when a messenger arrived from Madame de Wartenberg to in-
quire into the order of the arrangements, as she expected to
take precedence of Madame de Matuoff. M. de Lith replied
that the arrangements had already been made, and that it was
not in his power to alter them, the precedence being due to
Madame de Matuoff as an ambassadress of the first rank. After
this message had been despatched, the space of a few minutes
brought another courier from the proud Madame de Warten-
berg, charged to state that a violent headache would prevent her
having the honour of being present at the dinner. The guests

* Dohna's Memoirs.

118 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

were therefore obliged to place themselves at table without the
haughty dame, whose character and pretensions, we may be sure,
underwent tolerably severe treatment at their hands ; in short,
a league offensive and defensive was formed against her by all
the foreign ministers except Raby, not only to oblige her to
apologize, but to do it publicly. A complaint was therefore
formally laid before the King, accompanied by a demand for
redress of this injury. Irritated at the frequent recurrence of
such offences, and fearful of being involved in a dispute with the
Czar, now become formidable by the results of the preceding
year's victory at Poltawa, Frederic insisted that Madame de
Wartenberg should make a public apology to Madame de Ma-
tuoff. Prayers and entreaties were of no avail on this occasion ;
the King was firm, and even the passionate tears of the former
favourite sufficed only to repeal the publicity of the atonement ;
but here also her enemies were more than a match for her, and
though the King conceded that she should be allowed to read
from a paper the words of the dictated apology, standing, before
Madame de Matuoff, who was to remain seated on the sofa, and
though that detested paper was torn into a thousand fragments
by her passionate hand the moment after it was read, yet the
foreign ministers, concealed in the neighbouring apartment, had
not only heard every word, but transferred it faithfully to paper,
and Madame de Wartenberg soon had the mortification of seeing
its publication in a gazette, which her implacable foes took care
should reach her without loss of time.

Nor was this the only or even the worst result of the affair.
The King meeting her shortly after in the Queen's circle, abso-
lutely threatened that, if she persisted in entangling him in such
disagreeable affairs, " he would find means to put a stop to it."
All unused to such language from the generally but too indul-
gent monarch, she was seriously alarmed, and, says Pollnitz,
gave her husband the only good advice he ever received, and the
only advice which he did not take from her — to leave the
Court.

SOPHIA LOUISA. 119

The crown Prince had long been weary of the Wartenberg
sway at Court; his favourite Grumbkow was equally so; Ilgen,
the minister for foreign affairs, who had hitherto been Warten-
berg's right hand, loved neither the favourite Madame de War-
tenberg, nor the " favourite's favourite " Lord Raby ; he there-
fore formed one of the party who had leagued themselves to
effect the downfall of the minister, and of his even more ob-
noxious wife.

The opportunity of the affair with Madame de Matuoff was
therefore eagerly seized upon by the confederates, as a fitting
preparation for the accusations which they hastened to pour into
the King's already-irritated mind. Madame de Wartenberg
was charged with being in English pay; with intriguing with
Raby ; with investing vast sums of ill-gotten money in English
securities; various other accusations of a like nature were
brought forward, all calculated to estrange Frederic from his
former favourite.

Grumbkow and Ilgen also made use of the two Kameckes, in
order the better to carry out their scheme. These two gentle-
men were both favourites with the King : the te great Kamecke,"
Paul Anton, had formerly been one of the royal pages ; he had
attracted the King's notice by his pleasant physiognomy and
lively manners ; he was a man of no talent, but of an unassum-
ing and honourable character ; he had been promoted to the
post of Grand Master of the Wardrobe. His cousin, the
" little Kamecke," Ernst Bogislav, was cleverer, and not so
honest ; his road to favour had been found partly by adopting
the reformed in exchange for the Lutheran principles, partly by
allowing the King to win at chess, whilst seeming to contest the
game.

The fall of Wittgenstein was the prelude to that of his
chief. A fire which had taken place at the town of Crossen
gave an opening for an accusation against him, which was
quickly taken advantage of. Wittgenstein had the administra-
tion of the funds of the Fire Insurance at Berlin ; the inha-

120 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

bitants of Crossen applied to the office for indemnification for
their losses; not only, however, were there no funds forth-
coming to meet their demands, but they were dismissed with
insolence by the officials.

Upon this a formal charge of embezzlement of public money
was brought against Wittgenstein by the great Kamecke ; and
as but little defence could be brought, the Order of the Black
Eagle was demanded from him in token of his disgrace, and he
was shortly afterwards arrested, at his friend Wartenberg's
house, and consigned to Spandau, amidst the execrations of the
populace.

Two days afterwards, 2nd January, 1711, Ilgen was commis-
sioned to notify to the Prime Minister the King's pleasure that
he should retire to Woltersdorf (his only Prussian estate, about
two miles from Berlin). This command he immediately obeyed,
but sent to beg permission to take leave of the King before
finally quitting his service and his dominions. Frederic saw fit
to grant the request, and the interview accordingly took place.

Well knowing his master's real kindness of heart, and per-
sonal attachment to himself, the former favourite took advantage
of both. Throwing himself at the King's feet, he embraced
his knees, kissed and wept over his hand, and conjured him to
let him die in his service ; to allow him to restore all his pos-
sessions, since from his Majesty they.Jiad been received, but not
to deprive him of the consolation of remaining about his person.
The King, moved even to tears, raised and embraced him, as-
suring him that nothing but the good of the kingdom would
have induced him to have dismissed so long tried a servant.
He then drew a costly ring from his finger^ and presented it
to him, bidding him keep it as a sign of his undiminished
friendship.

Wartenberg then prepared to set out in company with his
wife for Frankfort on the Main. Before his departure he wrote
to the King, begging him to accept the before-mentioned estate
of Woltersdorf, and the garden and palace which Frederic had

SOPHIA LOUISA. 121

presented to Madame de Wartenberg, after Queen Sophia Char-
lotte's death.

The Count's gift was accepted, but care was taken by
Frederic that the donor should be re-imbursed to the full extent
of its value. By the advice of the little Kamecke also, a pen-
sion of 24,000 Thalers was settled upon Wartenberg, in order
not to force him into a foreign service.

On quitting Berlin, Count Kolbe Wartenberg is said to have
carried away with him valuables to the amount of several mil-
lions; the Countess's jewels alone were valued at 500,000
Thalers. She was in great fear that she might be deprived of
these valuables upon the road, but they met with no molestation
on the journey, with the exception of a demand for the key of
the Grand Chamberlain's Office, and the patent of Grand Master
of the Posts, which reached the Count at Eisenach, and to which
he replied by despatching the insignia in question with the mes-
sage that he would send his head, did the King require it of him.

Frederic felt the loss of his favourite terribly, and would have
gladly recalled him, could he have done it with consistency. He
did in fact cause one overture to that effect to be made to him,
but as the invitation was restricted by the clause that Madame
de Wartenberg should be left behind, it is recorded, much to
her husband's honour, that he declined to accept it on such
terms, replying that he could not abandon a wife who was dear
to him, and who had not forsaken him in his adversity.

Count Kolbe Wartenberg died soon after his disgrace, in
1712. Frederic was greatly afflicted at the intelligence; he
remained for several days in retirement, and when, at his wish,
the body was brought to Berlin for interment, the sight of the^
funeral procession, as it passed the palace windows, so affected
him, that he burst into tears.

After her husband's death, Madame de Wartenberg resided
principally in Paris, where she is reported to have led a very
profligate life. She died in 1734.

The Count Donhoff and the two Dohnas, who had retired

122 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

from Court after the ineffectual attempt which had been made
to overthrow Wartenberg in 1702, now returned. Count
Christopher Dohna, whose memoirs I have had frequent occa-
sion to cite in the preceding pages, had always been a great
favourite with the King,* on account of his vivacity and the
finished elegance of his manners; and also because, although
he was a polished courtier, his integrity and his high principles
of honour had never been called in question ; his return was
therefore welcomed by Frederic.

Meanwhile, during the occurrences of the foregoing ministerial
changes, the position of the Queen had also materially and de-
plorably altered. The King had continued unremitting in his
attentions to her, despite the ill-advised change which was dis-
cernible in her demeanour, and in the regulations of her Court,
which now, says Pollnitz, differed little from those of a convent ;
an unvarying routine of prayers and sermons filled up the day,
and entirely usurped the attention and time, part of which, at
least, ought to have been devoted to the duties rendered im-
perative by her high station as the first lady in the land, who
should have served as a model of domestic virtues to the other
matrons of the realm.

Still Frederic expressed no actual disapprobation of a course
which she evidently pursued from conscientious motives, until
one day, about a year after their marriage, in the heat of a
discussion upon the dogmas of her party, she unguardedly
expressed her conviction that none of the upholders of the

* The King used generally in his moments of familiarity to call Count Christo-
pher "Peter," in reference to an anecdote related by Dohna, of his own anxiety
respecting a favourite dog, which had made him for once even forget his usual
courtly grace, and leave the audience chamber of a foreign prince precipitately, at
recognising the voice of his friend Peter in distress. Count Dohna was treated
with great favour by King William III. during his mission to England. He gives
some interesting details of Lord Portland's views of Prussian affairs.

He was more of a soldier than of a statesman, and had frequently won great
applause for his conduct, especially during the siege of Bonn in 1694, and the
subsequent warlike operations. He returned to Court in the interval between
1702 and the Wartenbergs fall, but did not remain there.

SOPHIA LOUISA. 123

Reformed doctrines could hope for salvation. The King,
wounded by the hasty remark, rejoined, " Then after my death
you could not speak of me as the Mate King of blessed
memory ? ' " Startled at this unexpected application of the
opinion which had escaped her, the Queen hesitated, and then
replied, " I would say, ' the dear departed King.' ' It was an
unfortunate equivocation. From that moment the King's
affection for her suffered a visible diminution. Mademoiselle
Gravenitz was hastily dismissed from her post, Francke was
ordered to return to Halle, and Porst admonished no further to
occupy the Queen's attention with polemics.

Left now much to herself, the Queen's spirits sunk beneath
the loneliness and want of sympathy of her lofty but friendless
position, and her mind, weakened by the habit of constant
brooding over one subject, became the prey of a settled melan-
choly. The King, whose visits had gradually become less fre-
quent, now seldom saw her, and had no idea of the state of her
health. The affairs connected with Wartenberg's disgrace, too,
had for the time completely engaged his attention, and that
minister's death had so depressed him, and taken such hold
upon his mind, that to dissipate his grief his ministers had
urged upon him a visit to Holland, with the view of terminating
the difficulties relative to the Orange succession.

In the ensuing year the fresh negotiations for peace between
Louis XIV. and the allies ; the death of the Emperor Joseph,
and the consequences resulting from it; the distress expe-
rienced by Frederic on the suddenly-communicated intelligence
of the accident which had carried off his rival, the Prince of
Nassau Orange; together with his own failing health, so com-
pletely occupied his mind, that the unfortunate Sophia Louisa,
confined to the retirement of her own apartments, seemed to
have been almost forgotten by him. Her attendants, too, were
careful to conceal from him the fact that the morbid tendency
of her mind had now assumed the character of disease — that
there were moments in which the usually gentle Queen was

124 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

wrought up to a fearful pitch of excitement — in short, that the
subtle boundary which separates the realm of reason from the
border territory of insanity was, in her case, overstepped, and
that she was no longer mistress of her own actions.

The birth of Frederic the Great in 1712 brightened the latter
days of Frederic, although for a time it seemed probable that the
delicate, though " engel-schones" child would, like its little bro-
thers, not long survive its entrance into this troublesome world.

Meanwhile, as has been stated before, the King's health had
long been declining, although it had never been anything but
feeble even in his best days. His long-standing asthma had
now become exceedingly distressing ; he was confined to his
apartment, and the flame of life already waned and flickered in
its socket, when an incident of a most distressing nature
occurred to hasten its extinction. In one of those fits of
violence which had now become periodical, the unhappy Queen,
escaping the vigilance of her attendants, clad only in her white
night-clothes, with her long hair streaming about her shoulders,
rushed through the gallery which connected her apartments
with those of the King. Unheeding, in her excitement, the
glass-door which closed the communication, she burst through
this brittle barrier, flung herself, without a moment's warning,
upon the King, who was sleeping in his chair, and overwhelmed
him with reproaches. Startled thus suddenly from his slumber,
and seeing before him a white figure, with dishevelled hair,
covered with blood from the wounds inflicted by the broken
glass, and giving way to the wildest gestures and most frantic
exclamations, he imagined for the moment that he beheld the
hereditary spectre of his house come to forewarn him of his
approaching dissolution.

The hasty approach of his attendants, alarmed by the noise,
soon dispelled the illusion ; but the shock which he had under-
gone brought on an attack of fever attended by delirium, during
which he constantly exclaimed that he had seen the White Lady,
and that his end was near at hand.

SOPHIA LOUISA. 125

His illness proved, indeed, to be his last. During the six
weeks which it lasted he quitted his bed but once, on occasion
of a temporary rally, and was placed near the window overlooking
the Castle gardens. News of this improvement having rapidly
spread amongst the promenaders, a crowd of eager citizens
speedily collected, all anxious to catch a glimpse of their beloved
monarch. He caused himself to be placed full in their view,
and answered, with a gush of tears, the acclamations which rent
the air, as the action was recognised and acknowledged. This
was the last parting between Frederic and his people.

Having given his final directions to his son, he assembled his
family, and ordered his grandchildren to be brought, that he
might give them his blessing. He then took leave of every
one, and turning to his son, said, I leave you an earthly
crown, whilst I go to receive a heavenly one, which the blood
of Jesus has bought for me and for all the faithful."

A quiet and easy death shortly afterwards relieved the feeble
old man from the burden of government, now far too ponderous
for his failing strength, and freed his frail body from the painful
lingering hold of_life.

Frederic the Great speaks harshly of the failings of his grand-
father, and it must be allowed that there is much truth in the
accusations which he brings against him. It is true that his
mind was like a " mirror, which reflected all sorts of objects."
It is true that " he gathered the flowers and neglected the
fruits/' and alas ! it is but too true that he carelessly " sacri-
ficed the blood of his subjects in imperial wars " in which he
had no cause to lift the sword, and that he suffered human
lives to pay the cost of trifling and frivolous acquisitions."* Yet
despite these heavy charges, there is much to be said in his
favour. Prussia owes to him not only the title which ranks
her as a kingdom among the nations, but several of her best

* Frederic was on the point of withdrawing 15,000 men from Flanders when,
on receiving a jewel from the Orange succession, he suffered his troops to remain.
— " M6m. pour Seryir," &c. Fred, the Great.

126 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

institutions and of her noblest buildings also. He was an
honourable and faithful ally, even when his interest clearly
pointed to a new order of political connections. He was an
indulgent and affectionate master, and none had cause to com-
plain of injustice at his hands. Very great and noble actions,
or very wise measures, could not, with justice, be expected from
a man to whom Providence had accorded but a limited share of
mental strength and capacity ; and after all, the Great Judge
demands not from him to whom He has given but the one
talent the same interest as from him to whom He has intrusted
the ten. So the first Frederic "slept with his fathers/' and in
his stead reigned Frederic William his son.

All unconscious of the disasters of which she had been the
pitiable cause, the unfortunate Queen was conveyed, helpless,
mindless, and melancholy, but once more gentle and calm, to
the residence of her widowed mother at Grabow, in the province
of Mecklenburg ; and here she passed the rest of her darkened
life, a mournful instance of the "perverted notion, that religion
was meant to be a thing apart from and beside actual life, not
the vivifying principle and very mainspring of existence, which
makes our simplest duties acts of acceptable worship when per-
formed in its spirit and by its dictation.

LIFE OF

SOPHIA DOROTHEA,

OF HANOVER,

THIRD QUEEN OF PRUSSIA.

THIS Princess was the daughter of the Elector George Louis
of Hanover, afterwards George I. of England, and the unfortu-
nate Sophia of Zell.

Deprived of her mother's care by the miserable event which
blighted the existence, and unjustly dishonoured the name, of
that unhappy lady, Sophia Dorothea spent the early years of
her life at Hanover, under the superintendence and instruction of
her grandmother the Electress Sophia, and Madame de Sacetot,
a Protestant Frenchwoman, and in the companionship of her
brother, the electoral Prince of Hanover and future sovereign of
England.

The crown Prince of Prussia had, as we have already seen,
spent some time at Hanover when a child, and was to have
remained yet longer, had not his quarrels with the electoral
Prince necessitated his removal. The ridicule which his un-
lucky passion for the Margravine Caroline of Anspach met with
at a later period by no means tended to reconcile him to his
cousin George Augustus ; but of the Princess Sophia Dorothea,
who was only one year his senior, he seems to have retained a
far more favourable impression ; so that of the three Princesses
who were proposed to Frederic I. as desirable alliances for his
son — the Princess Ulrica of Sweden, sister of Charles XII. ;

128 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

the Princess of Orange, and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover — the
crown Prince privately fixed upon the latter, although his father
preferred the idea of a matrimonial alliance with Sweden.
•Therefore, when, under pretext* of an adjustment of the dis-
putes wlrich had arisen between the respective Governments of
the two Pomeranias, Finck was despatched to Stockholm to make
the necessary investigations previous to entering upon matri-
monial negotiations, Prince Frederic William entreated him to
send such a report of the Princess Ulrica as might deter his
father from carrying out the plan further in that quarter.

In Finck's despatches, accordingly, he painted such a portrait
of this Princess, and stated such obstacles to the purposed
union, as were, in Frederic's eyes, a quite sufficient bar to its
prosecution. He therefore now turned his attention towards
the Princess of Hanover; and as this proposition was encoun-
tered by no objections, proposals for a marriage between the
heir of the Prussian Crown and the Princess Sophia Dorothea
of Hanover were duly made and accepted by the respective
Courts.

The Electress Sophia, who was anxious that her grand-
daughter should make a good appearance at Berlin, commis-
sioned her niece, the Duchess of Orleans, to procure the
trousseau in Paris ; and so splendid a bridal paraphernalia had
never yet graced the wedding of any German Princess as that
which the gratified Duchess displayed to the wondering, if not
admiring, gaze of Louis XIV., who wished that, for the sake of
the Paris merchants, all the Princesses of the Empire would
send to his capital for their marriage outfit.

With as little delay as the arrangements permitted, the mar-
riage now took place, by proxy, at Hanover, in November,
1706. The bride arrived at Berlin on the 27th of the same
month. She was received at some distance from the gates by
her father-in-law and her expectant bridegroom.

When the Princess was apprized of the approach of the

* Pollnitz.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 129

royal cortege, she descended from her carriage to meet the
King, who did the like on his side. Having embraced her, he
presented her to the crown Prince and to his own brothers
and their wives ; he then placed her at his side in the royal
carriage, and returned to Berlin, the crown Prince and the two
Margraves accompanying them on horseback. The procession
passed through streets lined with eager citizens, all crowding to
greet and welcome their future mistress.

The usual ceremony of the stately torch-dance, with twelve
lords bearing tapers before, and twelve lords bearing tapers
behind the bride and bridegroom ; the usual amount of ban-
quets and balls, (which lasted for six weeks, and which were
directed by the Margrave Albert, who had such " alternatives
de rage et de reconciliation" with the maitres des ballets, as
were more amusing than the ballets themselves,)* did not fail
to grace this any more than any other royal wedding. Neither
did the usual discussions upon the face, figure, bearing, and
character of the new crown Princess fail to occupy all the
social circles of the city of Berlin for the usual time. From
the descriptions of those who knew her well, suppose we, too,
draw a portrait of Sophia Dorothea.f She was tall, and at
this period, slender in person ; she was perhaps never at any
time to be called strictly handsome, but her figure was re-
markably fine and her proportions exquisite; whilst the sin-
gular grace and dignity of her deportment, the charm of her
manner, the beauty of her large blue eyes — " such eyes as are
seldom seen" J — and rich brown hair, left little to be desired, in
point of personal attraction, in the bride. The bridegroom, on
his side, was then sufficiently handsome in face and features,
though his figure was bad, and his stature only five feet five.
He was sincerely attached to his wife, although rather a faithful
than a tender husband. " He had/' says Morgenstern, " none
of that astonishing complaisance by which lovers, whether hus-

* Pollnitz. t Pollnitz. Baireuth.

£ Thiehault, "Souvenirs de Vingt Ans de Rejour si Berlin."

130 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

bands or friends, seek to win the favour of the beloved object.
As far as can be gathered from the words he occasionally let
drop, the crossing of his first love might have been the inno-
cent cause of this ;" and as the object of this passion, by the
directions of her mother and grandmother, treated him with
harshness, " where, then, could he learn to make love ? " says
the sympathizing member of the smoking college ! Sophia
Dorothea, then, or " Fiekchen," as he generally called her — her
husband's education having been so much neglected in this
respect — met with but few of the blandishments of affection
from him, but its substance was not wanting either in sincerity
or depth ; and though misunderstandings, which were sedu-
lously fomented by those who had their own interests to serve,
subsequently arose between them, he ever regarded her with
an attachment which was undiminished, though it might be at
times overclouded.

The heart of King Frederic rejoiced at the birth of an heir
to the throne, which took place the ensuing year. To announce
at once his satisfaction, and his claim upon the Orange suc-
cession, he directed that the young Prince should be called
Prince of Orange. The Elector of Hanover, the States General,
the thirteen Cantons of Switzerland, Queen Anne of England
(who was represented by Raby), and the Duchess of Brunswick
performed the office of sponsors on the occasion of the christ-
ening. Frederic's rejoicing, however, was but of short dura-
tion, for the infant did not survive many months. The discharge
of cannon fired in his honour is said to have so startled the
little Prince, that he died shortly afterwards.*

It has been before mentioned that Frederic William joined
the army under Marlborough in the year 1706, and was
present at the battle of Malplaquet in 1709. The anni-
versary of this day f was always afterwards celebrated by him
with much solemnity, and with various ceremonies, commencing

* Vehse.

f " Karakterziige Friedricli Wilhelms."

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 131

by a " Par-force- Jagd" at Wusterhausen, and terminating by
a ball, to which no ladies were admitted, all the females retiring
upon these occasions immediately after dinner. Bielefeld gives
a description of one of these male terpsichorean performances,
which, although it did not take place on the anniversary in
question, but on a Sunday, after " church parade" and the
mess dinner, may be considered as characteristic of all such
occasions. After coffee a dance was proposed; and, to his
great astonishment, whilst he was speculating as to where ladies
were to be procured, one of the giants of the King's own regi-
ment, with a " black-brown-red face," asked him to honour
him with his hand as his partner in the minuet ! and the Baron
was infinitely amused at beholding all the coy movements of the
maiden and the advances of the lover, in the sort of courtship
represented by this dance, gone through with the greatest
gravity by a set of tall bearded fellows, each six feet high at least.

In 1708, upon the testimony, false, or falsely reported, of
the physicians as to the improbability of any future offspring
from Sophia Dorothea, took place the marriage of the King
with the unfortunate princess whose history we have just ter-
minated.

In the following year the crown Princess again gave birth to
a child, which, being a female, was but badly received. This
unwelcome little stranger, " C'est ma petite figure," says the
Margravine of Baireuth. Nevertheless, a poet who was blessed
with so lively an imagination as to liken the birth of this child
to the Nativity, and the three Frederics, the Kings of Denmark,
Poland, and Prussia, (who had met at Potsdam to concert mea-
sures against the aggressions of Charles XII. of Sweden, and
who unconsciously signed their alliance on the very day of the
battle of Pultowa,) to the wise men of the East, received from
Frederic 1000 ducats as the reward of his originality. It was
at the christening of this child that the contest between Madame
de Wartenberg and Madame de Lintelo, which has been before
described, took place.

K 2

132 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

The next child of Sophia Dorothea was once more a boy, and
once more, the solemnities attendant upon his reception into the
arms of the Church and the dignities of hereditary prince,
proved fatal to the delicate heir of the Prussian kingdom. The
crown of gold and precious stones which decked his baby brow
was supposed to have been too heavy, as a discolouration was
observed upon the head,* and this child also died — a repetition
of a catastrophe which leads to wondering surmises as to the
tender mercies of Prussian nursing in those days. At last, in
1712, the hopes of the nation were once more gratified by the
birth of a male heir to the throne. It was, indeed, a delicate,
weakly child, and one that gave but little hope of successful
rearing, far less that he was one day to become the greatest
monarch and the most extraordinary man of his age, the famous
Frederic the Great. The life of this child, too, was for a time
placed in great jeopardy by the overweening delight of its
father, who held it so near the chamber fire, and so stifled it
with caresses, that it was in imminent danger of suffocation,
and was only rescued with difficulty by the intervention of the
nurse.

Shortly after this event, in 1713, occurred the death of
King Frederic I., and the consequent accession of his son,
Frederic William I. As we have seen so much of the turbu-
lence of the boyish character of this monarch, we may as well
proceed to ascertain whether in his case " the boy had proved
the father to the man.'3

Frederic William was rigidly honest and upright in all his
dealings ; highly religious, although his religion at times de-
generated into bigotry; narrow-minded beyond measure in all
that regarded enlightenment, intellectual culture, and such
science as was not patent to his apprehension in its immediate
practical utility. Rough to a degree of coarseness, which, at
some parts of our narrative, we shall have to designate brutality,
he was yet withal affectionate. Jealous and suspicious to excess

* Vehse.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 133

in some things, he wa& nevertheless credulous and simple as a
child in others, and as easy to be imposed upon. He was de-
voted to the good of his people, yet he ruled them with a rod
of iron, and at the same time with such a capricious exercise of
his absolute power as caused him to be more feared than be-
loved. But, says Forster,* " the prevailing characteristic of the
Prussian people at this time was cowardice : the King had no
haughty vassals, no proud prelates and supercilious citizens to
control ; there was in no rank a sentiment of individual honour."
Prussia was still in feeling but a little member of the German
Empire, and needed a stern master to rouse her by his severity
to a self-conscious desire for freedom and independence, and
that stern master she found in Frederic William, " the hardy
architect of the state, as well as of the capital, "f

Frederic William, the great Elector, had laid the solid foun-
dation and erected the substantial walls of the Prussian mo-
narchy : Frederic I. placed a crown as keystone of the stately
structure, and gave it the name of kingdom. Frederic William I.
strengthened it to stand the test of time, and fortified it for
the struggle which he foresaw awaited it, by the accumulation
of those resources, and the formation of that splendid army,
which, in the hands of his wonderful successor, bore the brunt
of battle with the combined Powers of Europe, enabled him to
persist when apparently on the verge of ruin, and finally, after
a triumphant peace, to retire to the luxurious tranquillity of a
stably-enlarged and consolidated kingdom, now holding rank
amongst the first Powers of Europe.

Violent in all his emotions, Frederic William retired from the
death-bed of his father in a convulsion of grief, which prevented
his noticing the congratulations that were offered him on his

* Forster's ' ' Jugendjahre Friedrichs des Grossen."

f Ibid. Frederic William, says Vehse, ' ' had a passion for building, or rather
for making others build :" he ordered his subjects to build in the most arbitrary
manner ; no remonstrance or appeal was admitted when once his laconic decree,
"Der kerl ist reich, soil bauen" (The fellow is rich, shall build), had gone forth.

134

MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

accession to the throne, and shut himself into his chamber. His
first act of authority was to call for a list of the officers of the
household, and to draw a pen through the whole number.
When Printz, the grand marshal, reappeared in the ante-room
with this important paper, Tettau, chief of the gardes du corps,
remarking the consternation depicted on his countenance, took
it from his hand, and glancing at its defacement, exclaimed to
the crowd of eager office-holders who thronged about him,
" Gentlemen, our old master is dead, and our new one sends
you all to the devil." *

The whole Court, says the Marchioness of Baireuth, now
changed its aspect as if by magic; the sword and buckler
usurped the place of the robe of office, and everything assumed
a military character.

Frederic William appointed three new ministers, Grumbkow,
Kreutz, and Kraut ; the two latter were men of low extraction,
but of efficient talent. Grumbkow, who has been mentioned
before, played a more prominent part, and his character appears
to have been a singular, but by no means a praiseworthy one.
His contemporaries state him to have been a man of infinite
talent and resource; brilliant, spirituel, versatile, insinuating,
but treacherous and unprincipled, f and his actions confirm
their report. The character of the King's other principal
friend and confidant at this time must be also briefly sketched
here.J The Prince of Anhalt Dessau, the rough playmate and
companion of Frederic William's rough boyhood, was, in his
years of maturity, diligent, laborious, and indefatigable in busi-
ness ; a firm friend, but a vindictive enemy. He was also
coarse, cruel, and brutal, and his only idea of pleasure was
debauch ; but his character for valour and conduct as a soldier
and a general was beyond all dispute. The bond which more
especially united him to the King was that sympathy of taste
which made the useful, the beautiful, the end and aim and

* Polluitz. f Pollmtz. Baireuth. J Ibid.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 135

purpose of life, to combine in the perfection of military
discipline.*

In the year 1713 the conclusion of the peace of Utrecht
recalled the Prussian troops, which had been engaged in the long
wars, begun by the aggressive policy of France, and terminated
by the divisions of the English councils. The Prussian arms
were, however, soon again called into active service in carrying
on the war with Sweden, upon which, however unwillingly,
Frederic William saw himself compelled to enter, in alliance
with Denmark and Poland. During the campaign of 1715 the
Queen followed her husband to the field. The relations of
the royal couple, with the King of Denmark, who was also in
the camp, appear to have been of the most friendly and confi-
dential nature, during this period. Croissi, the French
ambassador to Sweden, also visited the camp, in the hope of
being able to mediate between that country and Prussia; but
the unsuccessful result of his mission justified the prophecy of
the wits of Paris, that their ambassador would prove " too tall
for the Laps, too short for the Swedes, and too frise for the King
of Prussia." The war was therefore vigorously prosecuted.
With the singular history of the capture of the fortifications
of Stralsund, and the perilous escape of Charles XII. through
the enemy's fleet, my history has nothing to do. I will there-
fore pass over the intervening time till the return of Sophia
Dorothea to Berlin, which was quickly followed by the birth
of the Princess Philippina Charlotte, subsequently Duchess

* Frederic William's passion for all that related to military affairs was so strong,
that he could scarcely reconcile it to his ideas that heaven itself could present a
state of perfect felicity if there were no drill among the angels ! It is related
that once when very ill, he ordered a hymn to be sung in his presence, which con-
tained the passage, "Naked came I out of the earth and naked shall I return
thither again." The King here broke in, exclaiming, "That's a lie, I will be
buried in my uniform." And when his pastor remarked that "there would be
no soldiers in Heaven," he exclaimed, with evident disturbance, "Wie? Was
sapperment ? Wie so?" and remained very much depressed for some time after
receiving the answer, "Because no soldiers are needed there." — See Vehse,
"Preussische Hof."

136 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA,

of Brunswick ; that of the Princess Frederiea Louisa had taken
place in 1714.

The Princess Royal was now eight years old, and projects
for her marriage began to float, not only through the mind of
her mother, but also through those of other persons, who had a
less legitimate interest in it ; and now, alas, began the first of
those unhappy intrigues which were destined so soon to inter-
rupt the harmony that had hitherto reigned between the King
and Queen.

To make the course of events which I shall have to narrate
intelligible, I must now give a short outline of the character of
Sophia Dorothea, which, unfortunately perhaps, in many
respects resembled that of her husband. She was, what he
was not, possessed of more than all the pride of her house.
She was, what he was not, ambitious to excess. But the points
of resemblance were jealousy, suspicion, caprice, and a tendency
to act upon the impulse of the moment, without any regard to
consequences. And hence arose a world of minor causes, all
tending to the arousing of those unhappy divisions which after-
wards so wretchedly rent up the peace of their domestic circle.
Added to this, Sophia Dorothea was unable to exist without a
confidante, and she was not always judicious in the selection of
those whom she trusted. Hence she was apt to bestow her un-
limited confidence upon unworthy favourites, who abused it to
their own interests, and betrayed her without any reserve. So
great was her weakness in this respect, that even though she was
apprised of their treachery, she still allowed the most important
secrets to leak out by their means, and thus by degrees lost the
confidence which her husband had at first reposed in her,
when, during his absences in the course of the war, he had
given orders that his ministers should consult her upon all
emergencies, and take no measure of importance without her
express sanction and signature; * and when in 1719, also, he

* Forster's " Jugendjahre Friedrichs des Grossen."

SOPHIA DOROTHEA, 137

directed in his will that she should be left Regent, in case of
his death, during his son's minority. It must not be supposed,
because we have thus given a view of those peculiarities in her
character which militated against her own views, and aided those
of her enemies so materially, that there was no reverse to the
medal, and that Sophia Dorothea had no good or great quali-
ties. On the contrary, her daughter, the Margravine of
Baireuth, who by no means spares her mother's faults, describes
her as possessing "a good, generous, and benevolent heart."
She was a virtuous and faithful wife ; and through all the long
years of her marriage, and despite all the fearful paroxysms of
anger to which she was sometimes subjected by her husband,
she preserved an attachment to him which made her an un-
wearied attendant throughout his many trying illnesses, and a
tender nurse during the last painful days of his existence.

The death of the Electress Sophia in 1713 had been followed
in the ensuing year by the accession of Sophia Dorothea's father
to the throne of England ; and to carry out a plan of alliance
between her eldest daughter and the Duke of Gloucester, her
brother's eldest son, the then heir presumptive to the throne of
England, was the darling project which now occupied her mind.
The alliance had been talked over whilst the children were yet
scarcely out of their cradles. But the King's health was at
this time precarious ; he was subject to attacks of illness which
it was thought might suddenly deprive Prussia of her sovereign ;
and this had awakened in the breasts of others, ambitious views,
which were widely at variance with those of the Queen. She
hoped to obtain the Regency during the minority of her son,
should anything happen to her husband ; but Grumbkow and
Anhalt, on the contrary, who built much on the extreme
delicacy of the crown Prince, thought that by wedding the
Princess Royal to Anhalt's nephew, the young Margrave of
Schwedt, heir presumptive to the Crown, not only the Re-
gency, but probably even the disposal of the ultimate succes-
sion of the kingdom, with all the allodial estates, might fall into

138 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

their hands; they accordingly brought over to their interests
the Princess's governess, the daughter of Leti, the Italian his-
torian,* a woman of interested and ambitious character, and of
violent temper and passions, yet who seems to have taken pains
in the instruction of her pupil. This person was induced to
encourage the frequent visits of Schwedt, but he was a big,
rude boy, and the little Wilhelinina could not endure him and
his horse-play. This child appears to have been of an affec-
tionate disposition, and a nervous, highly-excitable tempera-
ment; and the overwhelming delight of her mother's return,
and the caresses which she received on account of her improve-
ment in growth and appearance during the Queen's absence,
brought on an illness which nearly proved fatal to her.

The Queen's favourite and confidante at this time was Made-
moiselle von Wagnitz,f daughter of the gouvernante of the
Margravine Albert, the King's aunt. Mademoiselle von Wagnitz
was " belle comme un ange," but stupid and very unprincipled.
She carried on a variety of disgraceful intrigues, encouraged by
her mother, who, it is said, endeavoured with Kreutz's aid, even
to entrap the King by the beauty of her daughter, whilst at the
same time she was acquainting Rothenburg, the French minister,
with the most private affairs of the Prussian Court, which had
come to her knowledge by various underhand means.

Grumbkow, jealous of the attempt upon the King, and appre-
hensive of its success, set spies to work to discover Mademoiselle
Wagnitz's intrigue with Kreutz. Having succeeded in doing
so, he revealed all to his master, who, as he abhorred all levity
of conduct, especially in the other sex, was very angry, and
threatened to dismiss Mademoiselle von Wagnitz ; but the Queen
being much attached to her,J he suffered her to be warned.
Sophia Dorothea spoke kindly, though reprovingly, to the erring

* Author of "Ritratti della casa Elettorale di Brandeburgo." "Hist, of Eliz.
of England," &c.

f Or Wackenitz.

J "Because she had the art of amusing, a merit of no little distinction with
the great."— Pollniiz.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 139

damsel, but, far from being penitent, she resented the Queen's
interference most insolently, stormed and scolded, and finally
went into fits, so alarming the Queen, who was then enceinte,
that she became very much indisposed. Even then Mademoiselle
Wagnitz would have been forgiven, had she not caused villainous
pasquinades against the King and Queen to be posted on the
gates of the castle, upon which she was ignominiously dismissed.

The next lady upon whom the Queen bestowed her confidence
was Madame de Blaspiel, a far more deserving, but an equally
indiscreet person, as we shall presently observe.

Amongst the then reigning sovereigns of Europe were two
who were regarded by Frederic William with an extreme degree
of admiration and respect ; the Czar, Peter the Great, and
Augustus the Strong, of Poland.* The occasion of a visit of
the former to Berlin may therefore be supposed to have been an
important epoch in the annals of the Court. Accordingly, we
find very ample details of the event given by several authors,
especially by the Margravine of Baireuth, amongst whose early
recollections this visit occupies a prominent place. It also
affords a curious instance of Frederic William's economy, even
upon an occasion, when he might naturally be supposed to wish
to display his utmost magnificence, in honour of his illustrious
guest. The following are his orders to the general Directory.
" I destine 5000 Thalers to defray the Czar's expenses from
Memel to Wesel, but you are to make it appear as if it cost me
at least 30,000 or 40,000." f

The Czar Peter had already had an interview with Frederic
William on the occasion of the marriage of his mece£ with the
Duke of Mecklenburg, at Havelberg, about eleven miles from

* Nov. 11, 1732, Grumbkow wrote to Seckendorf : "The King of Prussia,
when he supped with me, repeated more than three or four tunes that the King
of Poland was the greatest prince who had ever reigned, and the second whom he
had known after Peter the Great." — See Vehse, vol. ii. p. 309.

-f- Forster's ' ' Jughend jahre. "

J Catherine Iwanowna, daughter of the Czar's elder brother, Iwan Alexivwitz,
and Duke Charles Leopold of Mecklenburg.

140 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Berlin. In the ensuing year, 1717, accompanied by the
Czarina, he paid the visit in question to Berlin.

To the Queen's great dissatisfaction, the place fixed on for the
reception of these visitors was her own new palace, to which she
had given the name of Monbijou, because, says her daughter,
( ' it was indeed a gem/' *

Sophia Dorothea had herself taken great delight in the deco-
ration of this little palace, and the laying out of the gardens ;
and she looked ruefully forward to the desecration of her little
paradise by the intrusion of the Eussian Court and their attend-
ants, whose manners were reported strongly to resemble those
of the bears, which inhabited the forests of their native country,
and who had wrought terrible havoc in the residences allotted
for their reception in other capitals. She caused many of the
choicest articles to be conveyed away, and denuded the apart-
ments of all such furniture as could be removed without breach
of hospitality. Her fears proved to be but too well grounded,
for, on her mournfully revisiting it on the departure of her un-
couth guests, she found ruin and dilapidation on all sides ; a
veritable ( ' desolation de Jerusalem," writes the Margravine de
Baireuth. She was obliged nearly to rebuild the whole edifice.

However, Peter the Great was a powerful ally, and it was
necessary to receive him and his Czarina with all apparent
cordiality.f The King and Queen accordingly received them
on their disembarkation ; the Queen gave the Czarina her hand
to assist her to land, but repulsed the Czar's attempt to embrace
her, possibly with a remembrance of the last embrace to which
she had submitted from him when as a child he had so " de-

* Thiebault's account of this palace is more detailed and less inviting. "It
was built," says he, "near the Spree, in a low meadow, which was generally inun-
dated ; in front was a flat terrace, bordered by willows. It was afterwards nearly
surrounded by barracks. It had formerly been the property of Madame de
Wartenberg, who offered it to King Frederic I. after the disgrace of her husband.
Frederic accepted the gift, but paid its value in money to the giver." — See above
Life of Louisa Meek. Schwerin.

t The account of this vi,-it is chiefly taken from " Mem. dc Baireuth."

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 141

ranged her fontange.* The Czarina repeatedly kissed the
Queen's hand, and introduced to her the Duke and Duchess of
Mecklenburg, who had accompanied them. Her Royal High-
ness was attended by a most extraordinary crew of " maids of
honour," whom the Queen declined to notice ; the Czarina, in
return, thought it incumbent on her to be very haughty in her
manner to the princesses of the blood, and the Queen's other
ladies.

The Czar and Czarina afterwards paid a visit to the Queen at
Berlin ; she received them in the great hall, and preceded them
to the salle des gardes, giving her hand to the Czarina. The
Czar, who had seen the Princess Royal before, f " flayed " her
cheeks by a salute from his rough visage, which liberty she re-
sented by a box on the ear.

The Czarina in person was " short and ramassee, very tawny,
and with so little air or grace, that her extraction might be
easily guessed; and from her toilette she might have been mis-
taken for a German comedienne. Her dress seemed to have
been bought at la friperie ; it was made k 1' antique, very much
loaded with silver and tinsel : the design of the stomacher was
singular; it was a double eagle, whose plumes were garnished
with brilliants of the smallest carat, and very badly mounted.
She had a dozen orders, and as many portraits of saints, and
relics, attached all along the facing of her robe, so that when
she walked one could have imagined one heard the jingling of
a mule's bells, all the orders knocking against each other, and
producing the same sound." J

" The Czar, on the contrary, was very tall and well made, his
features were handsome, but there was something so rough in
his physiognomy that it caused fear : he was attired like a sailor,
in a dress all of the same material." §

The Czarina, who spoke and comprehended German very indif-
ferently, at last, tired of her fruitless efforts to understand and

* See Life of Sophia Charlotte. f During his visit to Berlin in 1712.

± Baireuth. S Ihid.

142 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

be understood in her conversation with the Queen, beside whom
she was seated under the dais, summoned her fool, and talked
with her in Russian, frequently bursting into fits of laughter
at what she said. This unhappy creature was the Princess
Gallitzin. She had been implicated in a conspiracy against the
Czar, and twice knouted in consequence. To save her life she
had feigned to be mad, until the harsh treatment she received
had driven her really so. The Czar, it is said, used to treat her
with the greatest brutality,* saying that if she were mad, she
ought to be used as if she were ; sometimes in a jocose mood,
when he had finished his own meal, he would throw the re-
mainder at her head. She now filled the post of fool to the
Czarina. At dinner the Czar was seated beside the Queen ; the
attempt that had been made to poison him in his youth had
left an affection of the nerves which occasionally seized him like
a convulsion fit ; this was the case at dinner, and he made such
frightful contortions, and brandished his knife in such alarm-
ing proximity to the Queen, that she was upon the point of
rising several times. In his attempts to reassure her, the Czar
pressed her hand with such force that she was obliged to cry out
for mercy ; this so much amused him that he laughed heartily,
saying " her bones were more delicate than those of his Cathe-
rine." After supper he slipped away from the ball which
succeeded, quietly, and returned alone and on foot to Mon-
bijou.

One of the remains of barbaric simplicity which still clung
to the Czar was, that he asked for whatever he admired. This
was the more awkward, because, unlike a barbarian, he ad-
mired only that which was really valuable. Amongst the
objects thus unceremoniously demanded was a very beautiful
cabinet,f entirely fitted, up with amber, and immensely costly.

* Pollnitz.

*h Pollnitz says this was presented at Havelberg by the King, on the Czar's
visit to that place in 1716. The King also presented him with a yacht which was
valued at 100,000 crowns. — "Mem. pour servir a 1'Hist. des Quatre derniers
Souverains de Brandebourg."

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 143

This was accordingly conceded with as good a grace as could
be assumed, and despatched to adorn the palace of the Czar's
northern capital.

These troublesome guests took their departure shortly after-
wards, leaving the Queen to mourn over, and repair as best she
might, the devastation of her favourite residence.

The Prince Royal was now five years old — an age at which
it was thought advisable to remove him from the care of
Madame de Rocoulles, who will be remembered as the early
instructress of Frederic William himself, and place him under
male superintendence. Two military governors were therefore
selected for this office ; one of them was Finck of Finckenstein,*
who is said to have been the choice of the Queen herself, pos-
sibly from a secret prejudice in favour of the ambassador,
whose representations had caused her to be preferred to the
Princess Ulrica of Sweden, in the selection of a bride for
Frederic William.

The second military governor was Kalkstein : he was a
favourite with the King, because he was a good table com-
panion. In addition to these two gentlemen, Duhan de
Jandunf was entrusted with the general education of the
Prince ; he was a Frenchman, and, fortunately for the crown
Prince, an elegant scholar, and an upright and amiable man.

It might not have been expected that the King would have

* Finck had been appointed governor to Fred. William himself, after the
retirement of Count Alex. Dohna, in 1702. He distinguished himself at the
battle of Blenheim, of which he brought the intelligence to Berlin.

f The crown Prince became much attached to Duhan. I transcribe a note
written by him to his preceptor at the age of fifteen, which, at least, proves that
there was no doubt as to the capability of affection in Frederic's mind at that
time, whatever it may prove as to his teacher's success in instructing him in
French :

" Mon cher Duhan,

"Jevous promets que quand j'aurez mon propre argent en main, je Vous
donnerez annuellment 1400 ec\is par an, et je Vous aimerais encor un peu plus
qu'a present s'il me Test possible.

" FREDERIC, Pr. r.

" Potsdam, le 20 Juin, 1727."

144 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

chosen such a person for his son's education, which he wished
to be, in the most exclusive sense, a military one ; but Jandun
had been with his pupil, the son of Count Dohna, at the siege
of Stralsund, and Frederic William had conceived a respect for
the preceptor who accompanied his charge to the field of battle.
To this lucky accident, therefore, was attributable the appoint-
ment of Duhan, to whom Frederic the Great owed all the
knowledge he acquired in his youth, as well as that taste for
learning which in later times acquired him the title of the
" Philosopher of Sans Souci." To these gentlemen the King
himself furnished instructions, which entered into the most
minute details not only of the education of his son, but even of
his toilet, occupations and recreations. Of these instructions
a specimen will be presently offered.

The course of the crown Prince's education was, by his
father's directions, to embrace geography and history ; the
latter to be studied on a system of Frederic William's own pro-
pounding. Ancient history was to be cursorily passed over;
that of the middle ages to be left untouched, but that of modern
times, especially of the last one hundred and fifty years, and
of the connected houses of Brandenburg, Hanover and Bruns-
wick, to be studied with attention, because " domestic has more
force than foreign example." In prosecution of this idea, when
the " Theatrum Europseum" was proposed as the best com-
pendium of history for the Prince's use, his father enjoined
that the study of Greek and Roman history should also be
entirely omitted, because " elles ne sont bonnes a rien."
The Prince was to learn much by heart to strengthen his
memory. The German language, though not altogether left
out of this catalogue of princely studies, was only mentioned
cursorily, as of slight importance ; so that when, after his ac-
cession to the throne, Professor Gotteshed suggested to Frederic
IT. that the German language required encouragement, " Yes,"
said he, " I have read no German book from my youth,
Je le parlc comme un cocher, and I am now too old to im-

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 145

prove." The French language was therefore to be chiefly
cultivated by the crown Prince; Latin was absolutely forbidden.
An anecdote is related, that the King, once coming in when the
Prince was taking his lesson, from an earlier tutor, who was
employed for a time, heard some barbarous Latin expressions,
and asked the teacher what he was doing ; he replied, " Sire,
I am explaining the auream bullam. — " (( I will auream bullam
you," interrupted the King, in a rage, and, raising his cane,
he drove the unlucky preceptor from the room and his office at
the same moment.

This early neglect of the learned languages Frederic the
Great never repaired, although he constantly regretted his igno-
rance of them to the last.

The following is an extract from the above-mentioned in-
structions, delivered by the King to Duhan, at a later period :* —

"Sept. 3rd, 1721.— On Sunday he (the crown Prince) shall
rise at seven o' clock. As soon as he has put on his slippers,
he shall kneel down by the bed-side, and say a short prayer
aloud, so that all in the room can hear. The prayer, which he
must learn by heart, is as follows." [Here follows the prayer
to be made use of.] "As soon as he has done this he shall dress
himself as quickly as possible, wash himself clean, and have his
hair dressed and powdered. The prayer and the dressing must
be finishedf in a quarter of an hour, by which time it will be a
quarter past seven. When this is done his servants and Duhan
shall come in, in order to hold the long prayer, kneeling.
Dahan shall read a chapter out of the Bible, and sing some
hymn, until a quarter to eight ; then all the servants shall with-
draw, and Duhan shall read the Gospel for Sunday, with my
son, explain it briefly, and also bring forward what is necessary
to true Christianity, and make him repeat Noltenius's cate-
chism. Then my son shall come down to me, go to church and
breakfast with me, and then the rest of the day is before him.

* Preuss, " Jugendjahre Fried, des Gross," vol. i. "Lebens Gteschichte."
t Orig. "fixundfertigseyn."

146 MEMOIES OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

In the evening he shall bid me good night at ten o'clock, go
direct to his room, undress quickly, wash his hands," &c.
" On Monday he shall be called at half-past five, and you are
to instruct him that, as soon as that is done, he shall get up
immediately, instead of turning over to rest again; he must
kneel down and repeat the short prayer, as on Sunday ; he
must then as quickly as possible put on his shoes and stockings,
and wash his face and hands, but not with soap ; he shall then
put on his casaquin, and have his hair dressed and combed,
but not powdered. "Whilst he is having his hair dressed and
combed, he shall take his tea and breakfast, so that is all one
work. This must all be done before half-past six." " At a
quarter to eleven he shall wash his face with water only, and
his hands with soap, put on his coat quickly, be powdered, and
come to me."

With the like minuteness, are likewise prescribed the studies
of every hour of every day in the week. But, above all other
things, the taste for military pursuits was to be inculcated in
the education of the crown Prince. " You are to impress upon
my son," says Frederic William, "that nothing in the world
but the sword can procure him fame and honour ; he will be
contemptible before the world if he does not love it, and seek
his only glory in it." Of the success of Frederic William's
system of education we shall have more to say by-and-by.

In the meantime the crown Prince was for a time in great
danger of being left fatherless, with the prospect of a long
minority, and a disputed regency; for in 1719 the King, who
had gone to his regiment at Brandenburg, was seized with a
violent fit of illness, and but little hope was entertained of his
recovery. The Queen was sent for in haste. When she ar-
rived the King presented her with a packet containing his
will, by which he had left to her the regency of the kingdom,
appointing the Emperor and the King of England, guardians to
the crown Prince. He enjoined upon her the strictest secrecy
as to the contents of the document. Grumbkow and Anhalt,

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 147

hearing that the will had been thus confided to the custody of
the Queen, and anxious beyond measure to ascertain its con-
tents, applied themselves to Madame de Blaspiel, offering her
a bribe to procure them information on the subject, and to
interest the Queen in their favour. Madame de Blaspiel was
justly indignant, and informed the Queen j she, in her turn,
made the King acquainted with their conduct ; and the conse-
quence was, that when Anhalt and Grurabkow presented them-
selves to demand an audience, they were received by the Queen,
who, confident in her position, displayed no lack of hauteur,
informing them that the King was at that time too ill to see
them, but that he requested they would return to Berlin, there
to keep order during his absence.

On Anhalt's endeavouring to speak, she feigned to be so
overwhelmed with the fatigue of her arduous duties as nurse,
that she could not listen to him. Thus foiled, Grumbkow and
Anhalt had nothing for it but to retire, with an additional degree
of ill-will towards the Queen, and of curiosity respecting the
all-important document with which she was intrusted. An
accidental circumstance procured them the means of acquiring
information on this subject. Madame de Blaspiel had allowed
Count de Manteufel,* the Saxon ambassador, to obtain a com-
plete influence over her heart, and part of the correspondence
between them having fallen into the King's hands, he, who had
" never learned to make love," did not understand it, but gave
the letters to Grumbkow, in order to ascertain whether they
threatened any danger to the State. Grumbkow joyfully turned
this knowledge of Madame de BlaspiePs secret to account, by
employing Manteufel to win her over, to endeavour, if possible,
to withdraw the will from the Queen's hands, or at least to gain
a knowledge of its contents.

Madame de Blaspiel was for a long time incorruptible ; but
the reproaches of her lover at length prevailed over her fidelity,
and she besought the Queen to inform her of the contents of

* He was a Prussian by birth, but had entered the Saxon service.

L 2

148 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

the document which was evidently matter of so much self-
gratulation to her. Her too-confiding mistress not only allowed
herself to be decoyed into this foolish compliance, but even
suffered the will itself, to remain for some time in the hands of
Madame de Blaspiel. Its contents, thus divulged, became
matter of somewhat uncomfortable discussion between the two
worthy allies. Jealous of the influence of the Queen, which
was still in the ascendant, as the King, having fallen into a
sort of hypochondriac state after his recovery, rarely left her
society, they sought by all means in their power to lessen her
influence. She was known to be fond of cards. It was ascer-
tained that she had been obliged to borrow 30,000 crowns
secretly, and the disappearance of a pair of brilliant ear-rings,
the King's present, which Sophia Dorothea rarely wore, because
she had " lost" them several times, put it into the subtle brain
of Grumbkow that they had gone to pay her debts at play. He
informed the King of his suspicions. The Queen, on her part,
forewarned by Monsieur de Kamecke, whom Grumbkow had
tried to induce to join in his plans, complained to her husband
of the intrigues which Grumbkow was carrying on against her.
The affair of Clement* meantime supervened, and amongst the
persons implicated by his confessions, and those of his accom-
plices Lehman and Boube, was M. de Troschke, gentleman of
the chamber to the late King, and spy in the Swedish war.
Amongst his papers were found some letters from Madame de
Blaspiel, which spoke very unguardedly of the King. Grumb-

* Clement was a Hungarian nobleman of doubtful origin. He gained access to
the King, and succeeded in entirely convincing him, by means of forged letters
from Prince Eugene and others, of the existence of a plot between the Courts of
Vienna and Dresden, to take him prisoner, educate the crown Prince in the
Roman Catholic religion, and place him upon the throne under the guardianship
of the Emperor. Anhalt and Grumbkow, and even the Queen herself, were
accused of being privy to the conspiracy. Strange as it may seem, so great was
the King's confidence in this man, that even after his confession he could scarcely
bring himself to believe him guilty, and almost repented having suffered him to
be executed ; although no mercy was shown to his less guilty accomplices, and
many entirely innocent persons were imprisoned on his accusation.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 149

kow, who suspected her of having informed the Queen of his
plots, was delighted to bring these letters to Frederic William,
whom he irritated against her additionally. She was arrested
and examined; on her trial she avowed undauntedly that she
had made use of the expressions in question, with respect to
the unjust imprisonment of Kamecke, which had taken place
shortly before.*

The Queen meanwhile was in an agony ; the will was still in
Madame de Blaspiel's keeping, and how to extricate it, before
the sealing of her effects should bring to the King's knowledge
the fact, that it had been allowed to pass out of his wife's hands,
was a matter of extreme difficulty. In this emergency Sophia
Dorothea had recourse to her chaplain, a mild and benevolent
man, who went to the officer commissioned to seal up Madame
de Blaspiel's effects, and succeeded in rescuing the important
document in time.

But the melancholy position of her favourite to whom she
was sincerely attached, and the loss of her society and friend-
ship, weighed upon the Queen's spirits ;f and during the period
preceding the birth of the Princess Sophia Dorothea, she was

* Pollnitz gives a different version of this affair, but as the Margravine of
Baireuth refers to the Queen as her authority, I have followed her account.
Pollnitz says that the correspondence on account of which Madame de Blaspiel was
arrested had been carried on with Flemming, the Prussian Resident at Dresden.
The Margravine de Baireuth also gives an account of a horrible conspiracy of
Anhalt and Grumbkow to destroy the King and the Prince Royal at the theatre,
hints of which were given by Madame de Blaspiel to the Queen, who pre-
vented her husband from going ; but as this is nowhere else mentioned, and may
be supposed to have originated in the ill-will of the Queen's party to the Grumb-
kowists, I have not inserted an account of it. On her second examination, by the
venal judge Katsch, the unfortunate Madame de Blaspiel behaved with the
greatest courage, repelling with womanly dignity the insults she was subjected
to in the examination. She was, however, sent to the fortress of Spandau, where
she was twice inhumanly kept for twenty-four hours without food, in a room
whose bare walls were the only accommodations permitted by her cruel jailors.
She was afterwards more leniently treated, but her imprisonment continued for a
year, when she was allowed her liberty, although under sentence of banishment.
Frederic the Great, to please his mother, afterwards made her governess to his two
younger sisters.

f "Mem. de Baireuth."

150 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

a prey to the deepest melancholy. Although her Oberhof-
meistorin, Madame de Kamecke, was an excellent woman, she
by no means supplied the place of Madame de Blaspiel, and
Madame de Rocoulles was too old to be much of a companion.
In her usual necessity for a confidante, the Queen turned to
the Princess Royal, now nearly ten years old, and seems, after
various trials of the child's discretion, to have made her the
depository of her secrets, a dignity which entailed upon the
poor child the consequences of Mile. Leti's jealousy and dis-
appointed curiosity, in the shape of kicks, cuffs, blows and
bruises,* which harsh treatment, partly out of fear, and partly
out of a remains of affection for Leti, the Princess concealed
from her mother's knowledge.

About this time dysentery broke out frightfully at Berlin;
the doors of those who had it were barricaded, under the idea
that it was infectious. The King, Queen, and Princess Royal,
were at Wusterhausen at the time. The King was attacked by
the epidemic ; during his illness, although the weather was hot,
the royal apartment was kept carefully closed, whilst a large
fire was constantly maintained. It is not astonishing that the
child, whose place was to remain close by this fire the whole
day, and whose complaints of headache and restlessness at
night Madame de Kamecke quieted by giving her a psalm or
two to learn by heart, should have taken the complaint, which
brought her, as well as her sister Frederica, to the verge of
death, whilst it carried off the Prince William.t

The conduct of Leti now became too gross and violent for
further concealment. She quarrelled with Eversmann, the
Kammerdiener, who immediately made revelations of her treat-
ment of the Princess ; she was dismissed in disgrace ; in
revenge for her dismissal, she did not content herself with only
carrying off the chief part of the Princess's wardrobe, but also
spread all sorts of reports injurious to her at Hanover, whither

* "Mem. de Baireuth."

t This prince was born shortly after the disgrace of Mile. Wagnitz.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 151

she had retired. The consequences of these reports, — that the
Princess Royal of Prussia was deformed, passionate, and subject
to epilepsy, — were soon apparent in the unwillingness of the
English Court to carry out the arrangements for the double
marriage, which, to the Queen's great satisfaction, had been
agreed upon during a visit which she had made to Hanover
some time previously. Besides, neither the Princess of Wales
nor Lady Darlington, the King's ambitious mistress, wished
that the Duke of Gloucester should marry into a powerful
house, and bring home a Princess, who perhaps, might counter-
act their own influence.

It was in consequence of these misrepresentations and dis-
sentient views, that Mile, de Pollnitz was despatched, as we
have before seen,* to ascertain the actual qualifications, both
mental and physical, of the young Princess. But Mile, de
Pollnitz was interested to discover defects. " She found fault,"
says the Margravine de Baireuth, " with my dress, my shape,
my air." The Queen was weak enough to be influenced against
the evidence of her own senses by Mile, de Pollnitz's repre-
sentations, and, to improve her figure, she caused the poor
Princess to be screwed into corsets, which rendered her (t black
with the stoppage of the circulation ."f

Still the affair lingered on, the King was angry, and the
Queen was mortified ; at length, in a visit which she paid to
her father, in 1723, she prevailed on him to promise both to
give his consent to the marriages, and to come to Berlin to
judge for himself as to the truth of the reports concerning her
daughter.

Triumphantly she now wrote to her husband that the affair
was settled beyond dispute. Great preparations were made in
Berlin and Charlottenburg for the reception of King George I.,
who arrived at the latter place on the evening of October 8.
The King and Queen, and all the Princes and Princesses were
assembled to receive him when he alighted from his carriage.
* See Life of Sophia Charlotte. f Baireuth.

152 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

On entering his chamber, to which he was accompanied by
all the royal family, he took a candle, and holding it before the
Princess Royal, surveyed her from head to foot, an ordeal
which greatly disconcerted her. At supper the King of
England was seized with a kind of fit,* he attempted to leave
the room, but fell on the floor, and remained insensible for
some time. On his recovery, however, he insisted on seeing
the Queen, his daughter, to her apartment, as if nothing had
occurred. The next day he was sufficiently recovered to go
out, and the treaty of the double marriage was once more
talked over. His Majesty of England declared that he was
willing to give his own consent, and that he only awaited that of
his Parliament to ratify the agreement. The King of Prussia
was thus induced to renew his former treaty with England, and
measures were concerted for the limitation of the ambitious
views which Russia seemed inclined to advance.

It was then agreed that Frederic William and Sophia
Dorothea should return the visit at Goehr, and the two mo-
narchs parted mutually satisfied.

The Queen had been for some time afflicted with a mysterious
complaint, which completely baffled the skill of her medical
attendants. On the night preceding the intended departure for
Goehr, Frederic William was roused by the intelligence that his
wife was taken seriously ill ; in great alarm he hastened to her
bedside, and assisted to apply the remedies which were deemed
advisable, when, to the astonishment of her attendants, the
Queen's sufferings terminated in the birth of a daughter. This
denouement, and the part which he was called upon to act in it,
greatly diverted the King, more especially as, no such event
having been anticipated, neither baby-linen nor nurse had been
provided. This infant was christened the following day by the
name of Amelia.f The Prince and Princess Royal of Prussia,

* Baireuth. This seizure appears to have been premonitory of the one which
carried off George the First on his journey to Osnabruck in 1727.
f Afterwards Abbess of Quiedlinburg.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 153

the Duke of Gloucester, and the Princess Amelia of England,
now considered as respectively betrothed, were named sponsors,
and it was in honour of the English Princess that the child
received the name of Amelia.

During the King's absence on his visit to Goehr the Queen's
enemies were not idle ; it was represented to him that the know-
ledge of her situation had been purposely withheld from him ;
in short, that he had cause for jealousy. Credulous, as usual,
he allowed himself to be influenced by these ridiculous insinua-
tions, and, on his return to Berlin, he shut himself up in his
room, instead of going directly to the Queen, as was customary
with him ; being necessitated, also, on going to supper, to pass
through his wife's room, when she was still confined to her
bed, he did so hastily, without speaking to her. Astonished at
this unusual conduct, on his return she called him, and tenderly
reproached him for his unkindness ; upon which he burst into
the most violent reproaches for her supposed infidelity. The
Queen, whose conduct in this respect had ever been above sus-
picion, replied by assurances which did but the more irritate
him. Furious with passion, he raised his hand as if to strike
her, when Madame de Kamecke seized his arm, telling him
that " if he had only come there to kill his wife, he had better
have kept away." Erederic William, unused to such bold
language, thereupon retired, saying that they should hear from
him on the morrow. The next day he accordingly summoned
Madame de Kamecke, the physician Stahl, and his regimental
surgeon, Holzendorf, to hold a sort of court-martial upon the
Queen's conduct. Being assured by all of them that his sus-
picions were without the shadow of a foundation, and, being,
moreover, soundly scolded by the intrepid Madame de Kamecke,
who told him that " if he were not her king she would strangle
him on the spot" for his insulting suspicions of herself and her
mistress, and that he did not deserve such a wife, he consented
to be brought to reason, and to beg pardon of the Queen, to
whom he said that the excess of his affection had led him to the

154 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

violence of which he had been guilty. And she, says Pollnitz,
being accustomed to his " vivacities," made no difficulty about
a reconciliation.

We now come to a break between the hitherto inseparable
allies Grumbkow and Anhalt. The former, thinking it well to
be upon the winning side, had reconciled himself to the Queen
during her father's visit to Charlottenburg ; and when Anhalt
pressed upon the King that his father-in-law had taken no
further steps in the matter of the marriages, and otherwise so
worked upon his mind as to induce him to inform the Queen
that, if these marriages were not carried out within two months,
he would hear no more of them, but choose another son-in-law
— Grumbkow not only did not support his ally, but rather tried
by underhand means to defeat his schemes, and even obtained
from the King the concession that the negotiations respecting
this much -vexed matrimonial alliance should be left in the
hands of the Queen.

A cause, trivial and even absurd in itself, perhaps contributed
as much as anything to the miscarriage of these negotiations.
Frederic William's military tastes have before been adverted to.
During his father's lifetime he had commenced the formation
of a regiment of tall recruits, which he had been obliged to
keep sedulously concealed from the paternal eye, exercising them
privately at Mittenwalde,* and giving orders that should the
King pay one of his infrequent visits to that place, they should
instantly conceal themselves, and remain perdus till his depar-
ture. On Frederic William's accession, he had felt deeply
grieved and astonished that the citizens of Berlin should refuse
to receive his pet giants into quarters among them. The great
Elector had built a house and laid out gardens in the Dutch
style at Potsdam; these gardens his grandson turned into
parade grounds, and here he established his " blue children,'
as they were called on account of the colour of their uniform.
Bielefeld gives a description of this regiment of colossi. " Na-
* See Morgenstern.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 155

ture," he says, "who has been so lavish to them in one respect,
has been but a niggardly step-dame in others. They had either
ugly faces, or crooked legs, or some other defect."* However,
Frederic William lavished enormous sums upon them : some
of the peculiar giants had as much as two florins pay per day,
and were allowed to carry on a trade besides. No sum was
considered, by the usually parsimonious King, too large to be
paid for a huge grenadier ; and those potentates who wished to
be on a friendly footing with the King of Prussia, had nothing
to do but to search their dominions for the tallest specimens of
humanity contained in them. A present of a recruit of six feet
might be counted on to secure Frederic William's friend-
ship ; of six feet two, his warmest alliance ; and so on in
proportion.

The tallest and finest of these grenadiers was an Irishman, by
name James Kirkland, whose procural and transmission from
his native bogs to the parade-ground at Potsdam, had cost
Frederic William upwards of 1200/. sterling.f But no one
whose stature had obtained a more than ordinary growth was
safe from the hands of his Majesty's recruiters. At one time a
young man, by name Schindorf, who had been diligently pro-
secuting the study of law for five years at Halle, disappeared
suddenly; he was a very tall man; the dreaded recruiting
Wagen had been seen in the neighbourhood ; the combination
was easy, the deduction certain. The college sent up a remon-
strance, March 10, 1731, upon this misappropriation of mind
to the mere purposes of matter. The King's answer was given

* Although Bielefeld speaks thus disparagingly of the personal appearance of
his blue children, the King, like other partial parents, greatly admired their
"ugly faces." He had all their portraits taken and hung in the gallery of the
palace ; and of one, who was super-eminently gigantic, he caused a statue to be
made, and coloured as near to the tints of life as possible ! — See Vehse. Frederic
the Great had the bad taste to dismantle this gallery of what might be called
"the beauties" of Frederic William the First, on his accession.

•h The Prussian Minister in England, in his account to the King of Prussia of
the expenses incurred by the capture, outfit, and journey of this recruit, makes
the whole amount to 1266Z. 10s.

156 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

in his usual concise style, " Shall not reason. Is my
subject." *

His passion for tall soldiers led him to wish to raise a race of
large people, so as to be able to recruit his great regiment with-
out trouble. One day meeting a very tall and well-made village
girl in the neighbourhood of Potsdam, he asked her to take a
note, which he wrote on the spot, to the captain of his regiment.
Either suspecting something, or being in a hurry, the girl gave
the note to a little old woman whom she fell in with, and
charged her to deliver it as directed. This note contained an
order to the captain to have the bearer instantly married to the
tallest man in the regiment, whose name was specified. On
being acquainted with his fate, and introduced to his bride, the
poor young fellow was in despair. He begged and entreated,
fell on his knees and wept, but all to no purpose ; the King's
will was law, and the matrimonial noose was tied. However,
the King, on hearing of the exchange of brides that had been
made, allowed the marriage to be dissolved.

But it was not only in his own dominions, and at the expense
of his own subjects, that Frederic William indulged his foible.
His kidnappers roamed over the territories of his neighbours in
all sorts of disguises, and incurred all sorts of dangers in quest
of tall recruits. At one time an Italian priest f was seized as
he was performing mass in a village church in the Tyrol. At
another, the tall Austrian envoy Bentenrieder, whose carriage
had broken down at the gates of Halberstadt, and who had left
his servants with it whilst he himself went to seek assistance,
was taken possession of. These outrages had taken place in
Hanover as well as in other States : the people were everywhere

* Forster, " Jugendjahre." The University of Halle sent up a remonstrance to
the King, dated March 10, 1731, because "Johan Gottlieb Schindorf studiosus
juris, der, seit 1726, die Collegia fleissig abgewartet, von einigen soldaten in der
offentlichen strasse angegriffen, in einen zugemachten Wagen geworfen, und ztim
Stadthor hinausgefiirhrt worden ware." The King wrote, as usual, upon the
margin of the document, "Sollcn nicht raisonniren, ist mein Uuterthan."

f Thiebault says this was the Abbe Bastiani.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 157

up in arms on account of the Prussian man-stealers. The King
of England remonstrated, but in vain ; he then gave orders that
these marauders should be arrested wherever seen : other princes
acted on the impulse thus given; Prussian enrollers taken in
Hesse and Bavaria were immediately hung. This was touching
Frederic William on a tender point. " He thought in his con-
science God had as good as made tall people for him, who knew
so well how to prize them ;" * and he was furious because other
rulers, who did not know how to make use of giants, nor yet
how to maintain them so well, contested his divinely-ceded right
to them.f He set, therefore, no bounds to his indignation
against George I., whom he looked upon as the ringleader of
this nefarious plot to deprive him of his rightful property.
He told the Queen that he would hear no more of an alliance
with England, and that he had made up his mind to bestow his
eldest daughter upon the Margrave of Schwedt. In her trouble
the Queen applied to Grumbkow, and he managed so to medi-
ate by procuring the liberation of several Prussian recruiters,
that matters were again put on a better footing, and the halting
plan of the matrimonial alliance was once more set in motion.
But there was no longer the same friendly feeling between the
two monarchs. Frederic William had been wounded too deeply
either entirely to forget or to forgive, and George I. still pro-
crastinated in the affair of the marriages.

A comic scene now took place between Grumbkow and
Anhalt. The latter, annoyed at Grumbkow' s having acted as

* Morgenstern.

+ Some of his subjects sought to convince Frederic William of the wrong he
was committing in kidnapping recruits, by means of his well-known religious
feelings, and texts from the Law of Moses were quoted to him ; as, for instance,
Ex. xxi. 16, "Whoso stealeth a man and selleth him . . . shall die the
death." "But," says Vehse, "these were citations from the Old Testament,"
and Frederic William did not consider that part of the Bible necessary to salva-
tion ; besides, other people cited passages also out of the Old Testament, as 1 Sam.
viii. 11 and 16, to prove that it was a prerogative of sovereignty for the king to
take the people's "sons and appoint them for himself for his chariots, and to be
his horsemen, and to run before him," and "to take their goodliest young men,
and put them to his work."

158 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

pacificator in the manner just described, accused him of having
received English pay. Grumbkow retaliated by demanding the
5000 Thalers which Anhalt had promised his daughter as a
marriage portion in the days of their friendship. The Prince
denied; Grumbkow insisted; mutual recriminations led to a
challenge. Now fighting was not Grumbkow's forte. He had
lain in a ditch through the battle of Malplaquet ; " hurt his
leg," so as to put himself hors de combat, at the beginning of
the siege of Stralsund ; managed to slip, though not without
leaving tatters of his reputation behind him, through one duel
with the Count de Dohna, and another with Goerz, the ambas-
sador of Holstein. But Anhalt was a fire-eater ; Grumbkow's
teeth chattered at the thought of him. The fatal day arrived,
and at the appointed hour, at the appointed place, stood the
terrible "La Barbe,"* foaming with rage. Grumbkow dared
not face his angry opponent ; he flung away his sword and
threw himself at Anhalt's feet, imploring his forgiveness.
Anhalt gave but one glance of disgust at the abject figure
before him, turned his back, mounted his horse, and galloped
off, leaving Grumbkow to vow eternal hatred and revenge.

Whilst these private tracasseries were occupying the attention
of the courtiers at Berlin, the proposed marriage between the
Archduchess Maria Theresa and the Infant of Spain caused the
speedy conclusion of an alliance between France, England, and
Prussia.f The King of England had promised that the con-
clusion of this treaty should hasten the performance of that
for the marriages ; but no result followed. Once again Frederic
William and Sophia Dorothea visited George I. at Hanover, and
the latter was left with her father to bring the matter, if pos-
sible, to a conclusion ; but when she applied to the English
ministers to draw up the marriage contract, they replied that
they had no power to do so ; and when she remonstrated with
her father, he answered that the Duke of Gloucester was as

* Name by which Anhalt is called in Seckendorf 's " Journal Secret."
t Treaty of Hanover, 1725.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 159

yet too young to marry, and that things had better remain as
they were. Finding all further advances impossible, the Queen
returned, indignant and mortified, to Berlin. Frederic William
was incensed against her, because, he said, she had amused him
with false promises ; and with the originality which usually
characterized his wrath, he caused the communication between
their apartments to be walled up.*

Meanwhile the Prince and Princess Royal were now of an age
to interest themselves in the contest which was going on with
regard to their respective destinies. The brother and sister
had ever since their childhood been united by the most tender
affection — an affection which never slackened, although the
course of events might somewhat chill the glow of its youthful
fervour. The Margravine of Baireuth was always Frederic's
favourite sister; he admired her talent and wit, and speaks
of her as a " fine mouche qui en sait plus qu'on n'en croit."
Her death, the intelligence of which reached him after the
disastrous battle of Hochkirch, cost him the bitterest sorrow,
whilst her affection for him led her to brave even the much-
dreaded displeasure of her mother, by consenting to marry so
much below the just pretensions of the Princess Royal of Prussia.

We have seen that, to give a military bent to his son's tastes,
was Frederic William's chief desire, in the course of education
which he had prescribed for him. In furtherance of this view,
he used himself frequently to take the Prince Royal with him
to reviews and parades, or hunting excursions, starting as early
as three or four o'clock in the morning, and not returning till
ate at night. Yet this very earnestness to make Frederic a
soldier and a sportsman seems to have defeated its own end :
the delicate boy took a dislike to the rough sports of the field
and the coarse life of the camp, with its enforced attendance on
drill and parade.f His health, always feeble, was unequal to

* The partition remained for six weeks.

t Thiebault speaks of an officer who, during thirty years' service, had never
been absent from parade.

160 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

the exertions required of him. Seckendorf, speaking in 1725,
says, " The King so fatigues him with early rising and rough
exercises, that, whilst still in his childhood, he looks as old and
stiff as if he had gone through many campaigns." He began,
besides, to develope a taste for music and books, especially for
poetry, and to manifest a refinement of mind and manners
which irritated his blunt father very greatly. Certainly there
could have been but little to interest a refined mind in the
" Par-force-Jagde" of which such frequent mention is made
among the royal amusements. Upon these hunting expeditions
a regular battue of large game was made. Sometimes as many
as from 3000 to 4000 wild swine, or 1500 deer,* would be
killed in one day, as upon one occasion, in the year 1726, when
1400 deer were driven into an inclosure made on purpose, and
there slain. f The Prince was present on this occasion, and re-
ceived a severe fall from an unmanageable horse, which probably
did not increase his liking for the amusement.

A ridiculous anecdote is related of one of Frederic William's
gigantic favourites, the Count von Haack ; on one of these
hunting parties, a fine boar came rushing directly upon him ;
his hunting spear broke short off, only wounding the furious
beast ; no time was to be lost : Haack, like a very colossus,
stretched himself across the path, and the boar rushed be-
tween his legs, carrying the Count off upon a most uncorn-

* The sale of the flesh of these animals was managed in a very arbitrary man-
ner by Frederic William. All that was not wanted for the consumption of the
palace was ticketed with a certain price, and sent amongst the tradesmen of
Berlin, who dared neither refuse to receive nor to pay for it. Occasionally, by
way of joke, the carcases of the swine would be especially ticketed for those citi-
zens, who happened to be of the Jewish persuasion. The Queen, out of her in-
come, had to find not only the clothing for the family, as has been stated above
(see Introductory Chapter), but also the powder and shot consumed in the chase,
in acknowledgment for which she received the proceeds of the sale of all the
pheasants and partridges not required for the royal table ; and if the King was
too ill himself to shoot for her behoof, he sent one of the gentlemen who were
reckoned the best shots to keep up the charter. Frederic William's own shoot-
ing generally bagged about eighty head of game out of from 120 to 130 shots.

f Forster, " Jugendjahre."

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 161

fortable saddle, with his face to the tail of his madly-terrified
steed ! *

But to return to the failure of the King's wishes for the educa-
tion of his son. With regard to religious matters also, which,
we were about to say, ranked next to military ones in Frederic
William's mind, too much enforced attention begot disgust in
the wearied young minds which were compelled to attend to the
reading of long treatises on scholastic theology, and to the
writing of confessions of faith occupying " eighteen sheets of
paper/' — the system pursued with both Frederic and his elder
sister.f The King's health had suffered by the excessive drink-
ing to which he was always prone, and he once more fell into a
state of religious hypochondriacisrn. Francke the Pietist, who
has been before mentioned, gained at this time great ascendancy
over his mind. " All pleasures, even hunting," says the Mar-
gravine of Baireuth, " were now looked upon as deadly sins."
The discourse at dinner consisted chiefly of quotations from
Scripture. The King read a sermon afterwards, and a hymn
was sung by his valet-de-chambre. Sometimes, do what they
would, the youthful spirits of the Prince and Princess, who with
their mother were in constant attendance upon the King in these
seasons of depression, would break through all control, and find
vent in a burst of laughter at something irresistibly comic in the
manner of these performances ; but such outbreaks were soon
drowned by the thunder of their father's wrath.

But we now come to a more painful part of the history of
the royal family. Disgusted at the above-mentioned effeminate
tastes of his heir, the King lavished marks of affection, which
were not frequent with him,J upon the Princess Royal, whilst
he treated the crown Prince with coldness, neglect, and even

* See " Karakterziige aus dem Leben, F. W. I."

+ That of the Margravine of Baireuth is preserved.

J Marks of affection were seldom showed by Frederic William to his children ;
"rare kisses," or a stroke on the cheek, were sometimes bestowed on his favourite
for the time being. The Princess Ulrica was high in his esteem, because she
" never laughed, and was never discontented." — Preuss, " Jugendjahre."

M

162 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

unkindness. Sophia Dorothea could bear no rival in the King's
affection either for herself or her favourite child ; this led her,
on her part, to various injudicious acts of favouritism ; unfortu-
nately, too, the roughness of their fathers manner always in-
spired his children with some degree of fear, and they, especially
the crown Prince, evinced more tractability to their mother's
milder sway than to the mandates of their father. The Queen
was foolish enough not to see that, by taking advantage of this,
she was effectually widening the separation which was already
beginning to divide the father and son, and entailing upon her-
self and her children a suite of unhappy results which rendered
them all, for a time, perfectly wretched. " Whatever/' says the
Margravine of Baireuth, " my father ordered my brother to do,
my mother commanded him to do the very reverse." The mo-
ther was obeyed, and the father justly exasperated. Prince
Frederic fell into a sort of disgrace ; his mother and sisters were
ordered to hold no communication with him. Sophia Dorothea,
nevertheless, corresponded with him by means of her eldest
daughter. Upon one occasion, 1726, .the Princess relates that
her mother had ordered her to write " plusieurs choses de con-
trabanxle^' to the Prince. She was seated at this occupation,
.when .the sound of the King's entrance obliged her, hastily to
:thrusther papers behind an Indian cabinet, near which she was
sitting, and put the inkstand in her pocket, where she held it
for fear of its upsetting. The King by some chance began to
-admire this cabinet, and to try the lock; to draw off his atten-
\sion, the Q\jeen desired him to decide between the merits of her
lap-dog an4 that of the Princess. The latter testified so naively
to the qualities of her pet, that her father was diverted, and gave
her such a hearty hug that the inkstand was overturned in her
pocket, " soaking her to the skin " with its contents, which also
ran down upon the floor, so that she dared not move for fear of
revealing the catastrophe.

But a new actor now appeared upon the stage; this was
Count Seckendorf, who had commanded in the famous attack

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 163

on the fortifications at Stralsund, and who afterwards, as Aus-
trian ambassador at Berlin, gained the most extraordinary in-
fluence, not only over the King, but over the whole Court.*

Of SeckendorPs character Pollnitz gives an account but little
flattering. " He affected/' says he, " the German honesty, with
which he was perfectly unacquainted, and under the deceitful
appearance of integrity carried out all the principles of Macchi-
avelli. With the meanest self-interest he combined the roughest
manners. Lies were so familiar to him^ that he had lost the
habit of truth from his childhood. He had the soul of a usurer,
now in the body of a warrior, now in that of a merchant. False
oaths and the vilest debasement cost him nothing when he had
an end to gain ; he was sparing of his own goods, but lavish of
the gold of his master/' But Pollnitz found scandal as easy as
Seckendorf found lies, and perhaps 'the latter's character may
be relieved of at least part of the burden thus laid upon it.
Although it must be confessed that in the services he rendered
to his Court, he stooped even to the most underhand means, and
intrigued with high and low.

This singularly-qualified agent then, did Austria, alarmed at
the above-mentioned alliance between Prussia, England, and
France, despatch to Berlin. The mission was an informal
one, its aim to detach Prussia, hitherto so faithful an ally of the
Empire, from this formidable coalition.

Seckendorf s first move showed that he knew the mainspring
of Frederic William's character ; he appeared as a mere visitor
at Berlin, taking care to have it reported that he had. come ex-
pressly to see a review of the best troops in the world. He was
pointed out, as having this wish, to the King, who entered into
conversation with him : in the course of the interview, Secken-
dorf contrived to display in glowing colours the Austrian attach-

* Frederic Henry, nephew of Veit Ludwig, Count de Seckendorf, author of the
" History of Luther anism." He was uncle of Baron Christian Louis de Secken-
dorf, author of the "Journal Secret." He commanded the unsuccessful Aus-
trian campaign against the Turks in 1737, and was disgraced and imprisoned on
his return.

M 2

164 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

ment to the Prussian interests. His next step was to procure
tall recruits for the blue regiment, and finally he promised the
King of Prussia, that Austria would secure to him the succession
of Juliers and Berg. Thus assailed in all his weak points,
Frederic yielded his implicit confidence to the artful envoy, and
proved to the Court of Vienna, the skill of its ambassador, by
giving, in the compact of Wusterhausen, his assent to the Prag-
matic Sanction, 1726.

With the Queen, however, Seckendorf made no way. She
had known him before at Hanover, and retained a disagreeable
recollection of some transaction, in which he had failed to show
her that deference, which her pride demanded as her due. Added
to this, she discovered, that his object was to withdraw the King
from the English alliance ; and when, at table, Seckendorf in-
cautiously let drop some slighting expression with regard to
the King of England, she resented it angrily, and, forgetting
the usual urbanity which distinguished her manners, made use
of some discourteous expression towards him. Seckendorf was
not a man either to forget or forgive an insult, even from a
Queen. He told her that he would cause any one who enter-
tained such an opinion of him to repent the expression of it, and
he kept his promise but too well.

Other similar occurrences confirmed this incipient hostility,
and during the whole of his residence at Berlin, which lasted till
1735, Sophia Dorothea and he were at open war. After his
recall the King said, " My wife and the whole world are against
him ; the Prince of Anhalt and my Fritz hate him like the pest,
but he is a brave fellow, and loves me." *

Of Grumbkow, too, the efficacy of whose friendship she
had more than once experienced, the Queen, by her ill-timed
hauteur, once more made an enemy. Indignant that he had
leagued himself with Seckendorf, she not only revoked the gift
which she had made him of her portrait, but sent to have it
wrenched from the panels where he had placed it in his house.
* Forster's "Jugendjahre."

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 165

In 1727 died King George I. The Queen's grief at the loss
of her father was excessive ; and though his support had been
but feeble and cold, still he had been more favourable to her
views than her brother George II., who looked upon Frederic
William with dislike. His Queen, also, Caroline of Anspach,
although her opposition was not overt, was, nevertheless, no
friend to the Prussian interests. Besides, the failure of Frederic
William's expectations with regard to the wills of Sophia Doro-
thea's father and mother had not left him more amicably dis-
posed either towards herself or her family.*

In the beginning of the year 1728 the King was induced,
by the representations of his friends, who by no means fell in
with the ascetic views of Francke, to pay a visit to Dresden,
there to conclude with King Augustus the Strong of Poland
the differences to which the enlistment of some of that Prince's
taller subjects had given rise. The crown Prince accompanied
the King upon this occasion.

The royal guests were treated with the greatest distinction
by the King of Poland, and a round of gaiety and pleasure
honoured their visit. Frederic William writes to Seckendorf,
" Ich bin in Dressen und springe und tanze, ich bin mehr
fatiguiret als wenn ich alle Tage zwei Hirsche todt hetze." f

* Sophia of ZeU died Nov. 13, 1726. Seckendorf, in a letter to Prince
Eugene, dated Jan. 22, 1727, ascribes the increase of the Queen's influence,
which took place just then (and during which the episode of the picture took
place) to the expectations which the King founded on the inheritance of her mother,
who died rich. But George I. burned the will of his wife, denying her capacity
as testatrix. On his own death, which took place soon after, his son George II.,
in like manner destroyed his testament, on which the King of Prussia had founded
hopes of obtaining a considerable legacy to Sophia Dorothea. Frederic William is
said on this occasion to have written to his brother-in-law, that he "deserved
the galleys." — See Vehse, " Preussischen Hof."

Lord Mahon says that the story of George I. destroying his wife's will "rests
only on court gossip, and seems quite at variance with the honesty of purpose and
love of justice which distinguished George the First." — See Mahon's Hist. Engl.,
vol. ii. p. 111.

f "I am here in Dresden, and spring and dance. I am more fatigued than if
I hunted down two stags every day."

166 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

This visit was a most important, and, in many respects, un-
fortunate one, for the crown Prince. Dresden was then one of
the most licentious Courts of a licentious age. Even Frederic
William himself found his virtue beset by strong temptations.
He writes again to Seckendorf, " 1st gewiss nit christlich leben
hier. Aber Gott ist mein Zeuge dass ich kein plaisir daran
gefunden, und noch so rein bin als ich vom Hause herge-
kommen, und mit Gottes Hiilfe beharren werde bis an mein
Elide." *

But to the crown Prince, from whom all the avenues of vice
had been hitherto so strictly guarded, these temptations were
far more dangerous. He was here at once plunged into the very
vortex of dissipation and profligacy. He is said to have fallen
deeply in love with the beautiful Countess Orselska — a passion
which, on his return to the more monotonous life of Berlin and
Potsdam, brought on a disposition to deep melancholy ; whilst
the taste which he had conceived for the pleasures of the gay
Saxon Court, led him into courses, whose vicious tendency be-
coming known to the King, exasperated him still more against
his son.

At Dresden, also, Frederic became acquainted with Quanz,
the celebrated flute-player, and took from him his first lessons
on that instrument. When the King of Poland returned
Frederick William's visit a short time afterwards, Quanz was
amongst his suite, and was privately engaged by the Queen to
continue his lessons to her son, as often as he could obtain
leave of absence from Dresden. The study of music was a
great solace to Frederic, and he devoted all the time which he
could abstract from the duties of parade, &c., to its cultivation.
His lessons were received by stealth, either when the King was
engaged in hunting excursions, or was absent with his regi-

* " It is certainly not Christian living here, but God is my witness that I have
found no pleasure in it, and am still as pure as when I left home, and will, with
God's help, remain until my end."

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 167

ment ; sometimes he and his young companions would separate,
one by one, from the hunting party, to meet at a given spot,
and there, surrounded by thick woods, perform the different
parts of some musical composition. On other occasions,
escaping from the drudgery of the 'drill, he would fling aside
the hated uniform and military queue, and investing himself in
a rich dressing-gown and French hair-tie, receive his lesson in his
own room. On one of these occasions an alarm of " the King !
the King!" was raised. Quanz concealed himself in the
shadow of the wide chimney, whilst Frederic hastily thrust on
his uniform ; but the music-books, the brocade dressing gown,
and the Parisian hair-tie, did not escape the King's notice and
loud reprehension ; and Quanz, in mortal fear of the discovery
of his red coat through the gloom, was obliged to maintain his
position for the hour, during which Frederic William exhausted
himself in vituperations against his son's vile womanish tastes,
and in all manner of threats should he persist in them. Yet,
despite his father's utmost strictness, the young Prince
managed to elude his watchfulness, both in this, and other
respects ; and when at night he retired to his chamber, it was
only to issue from it, arrayed in the newest French fashions,
and bound for the wildest haunts of dissipation afforded by his
father's capital. The King, having an inkling of his son's
pursuits, thought it best in the ensuing year, 1729, to place
him under the surveillance of fresh governors. Messrs. Rochow
and Kaiserling were the names of the gentlemen whom he now
placed about the crown Prince. E/ochow was an upright man,
but a bore, affecting the mysterious, to conceal the superiority
of his pupil's, to his own intellect. Kaiserling, on the contrary,
though equally well principled, was gay, lively and versatile,
speaking many different languages with equal facility, and
knowing a little on all imaginable subjects, with great depth in
none. He united with these qualifications a good-nature,
which made him always ready to oblige any one. It is, difficult
to conceive the reason of the King's choice of this brilliant

168 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

personage to be his son's tutor ; nevertheless, so it was, and
his society was a great resource to Frederic.*

The Prince had also become intimate with two young men
named Keith and Katt. The former was one of the King's
pages, a youth of amiable disposition, who had gained Frederic's
friendship by sympathizing with him on the harsh treatment of
his father. Katt was the son of Colonel Hans Heinrich Katt.
He was not naturally of a bad disposition, nevertheless he was
by no means a desirable companion for Frederic. In person he
was not pleasing, being of low stature, deeply marked with
small-pox, with beetling black brows, which nearly met above
his eyes. He was fond of parading his sceptical views on re-
ligious subjects, views which, with him, as with many other
shallow-brained young men of the present day, were not the
result of thought, but of the want of it. These ideas he unfor-
tunately soon succeeded in imparting to the crown Prince, as well
as in drawing him into yet worse company and wilder debauch,
than he had engaged in before, whilst he encouraged him in
manifesting opposition to his father's wishes, and neglect of his
commands.

In the domestic circle, meantime, things went on from bad
to worse. The Queen, surrounded with vexations, was irritable
and capricious; her daughter found it "impossible to please
her ;" whilst the King's fits of passion appear at times to have
amounted almost to insanity, so great was his exasperation
against the " Querpfeifer f and poet Fritz/' whom he was re-
commended to marry, lest his excesses should injure his health,
and against the Princess Royal, the subject of whose marriage
had cost him so much annoyance. Their mother no longer

* Their friendship remained unbroken until Kaiserling's death in 1745. His
loss was more severely felt by Frederic than that of any other of his most intimate
friends, and he provided carefully, and with much feeling, for the education of the
daughter whom his deceased friend had left, expressing his earnest wish that "la
pauvre Adelaide" should be worthy of her father. The Marchioness of Baireuth
speaks of Kaiserling as ' ' fort honnete homme, mais fort debauche, grand etourdi
et bavard, qui faisait le bel esprit et n'etait qu'une bibliotheque renversee."

f Fifer.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 169

dared receive these two unfortunate children openly. All sorts
of stratagems were had recourse to, to elude the King's eye.
On one occasion when the Prince and Princess were with the
Queen, the spies se.t to watch were not sufficiently on the alert ;
an alarm was given that the King was at hand. The Prince
hastily concealed himself in a niche ; the Princess crept under
her mother's bed, on which the King, being tired with hunting,
threw himself, and fell asleep. His children meanwhile were
obliged to maintain their constrained position until, after what
appeared to them an interminable period, he awoke from his
nap and departed.

The Queen, too, had now another confidante, even worse
selected than the two former ones. This was a Madame Ramen,
of whom the Margravine de Baireuth says that she "was a
widow, or rather, like the woman of Samaria, she had many
husbands/' To this person, as usual, the Queen confided all
her most important secrets, which were duly sent round by
Madame de Ramen to the King, thus adding fuel to the fire of
his vexation. Moreover, whilst on a visit to a grand review
given by the King of Poland, Frederic William had met the
Duke of Saxe Weissenfels, and, to that Prince's great surprise,
although the match was in no way a desirable one for the
Princess Royal, had offered him his eldest daughter in marriage.
When, however, the Duke presented himself in the character
of suitor to her daughter, the Queen turned her back upon
him. This discourtesy occasioned a violent dispute between
her and her husband. At one time an end seemed about to be
put to all these disturbances by the Prince of Wales himself,
who had determined on seeing, with his own eyes, the much
talked of Princess of Prussia. Even before the visit of the
King of Poland, the Queen had received false intelligence of an
incognito visit projected by her nephew ; and for a long time
amongst the strangers who arrived at Berlin, " il n'y avait ni ane
ni mulct,5' whom she did not take for him.* Disappointment

Baireuth.

170 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

had at length taken the place of expectation, when La Motte
arrived from Hanover, and, having demanded a private audience
of the Queen, informed her that he was commissioned by the
Prince of Wales to ask whether an incognito visit from him
would be agreeable to the King and Queen of Prussia ; and, on
behalf of the Prince also, La Motte entreated her at the same
time, to keep the matter a profound secret. Overjoyed at this
announcement, the Queen forgot the injunction to secresy, and
communicated the fact to Dubourguai, the English envoy,
saying that she was sure he was sufficiently her friend to partici-
pate in her joy. Great was her chagrin when M. Dubourguai
expressed his sincere regret that she should have communicated
to him a secret which his duty compelled him to. reveal to his
master, the King of England, with as little delay as possible.
She entreated his forbearance, that he would delay, would
concede to her ever so short a respite ; but the minister was
inflexible. George II. receiving intelligence of his son's in-
tended step, saw himself obliged to recall him to England,
whilst La Motte was arrested and imprisoned. The Queen was
in the greatest embarrassment ; she had informed her husband
of La Motte's mission, and he had come from his favourite
retreat of Wusterhausen, to Berlin, expressly to receive the
Prince of Wales. Fresh irritation and misunderstanding were
the results of this contretemps, added to which the King, who
had drunk hard and hunted hard, in all sorts of weather, was
attacked by a violent fit of gout. He was more like a madman
than anything else in his fits of frantic irritablity. There was
no indignity which he did not put upon " that canaille Anglaise/'
his daughter, and " that coquin de Fritz/' his son. Neverthe-
less, he would neither allow them, nor the Queen to leave his
room, in which they were ordered to appear punctually by nine
o'clock in the morning. He had long extended his economy in
matters of diet to the most wretched parsimony. Persons who
had the honour of an invitation to the royal table, generally left
it with an unsated appetite. He now carried this to a more

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 171

extraordinary extent than ever, and the Margravine of Baireuth
gives details which seem almost incredible, of his treatment of
herself and her brother, in this, and other respects. Ill though
he was, his impatience would not allow him to remain in his
bed, and he caused himself to be wheeled about in a chair on
rollers, whilst his family, " like mournful captives, followed this
triumphant car." One day he dismissed them, exclaiming to
the Queen, "Away with you and your cursed children, and
leave me alone." The Queen and her children, rejoicing in the
holiday thus secured, ordered dinner in her apartments ; but
scarcely were they seated at table, when the Queen was recalled
in haste by the intelligence that her husband was strangling
himself. On another occasion, being irritated by a remark of
the Princess Frederica (who was now betrothed to the Margrave
of Anspach), he threw a plate at his son's head, another at the
Princess Royal's, and finally drove the latter out of the room
with his crutch.

But we hasten over this and many other such disgusting
scenes, as over the frenzied violence of a madman.

The marriage of the Princess Frederica Louisa, which took
place in 1729, appears to have made but little break in the
course of either the King's or the Queen's ideas; and the outbreak
of fresh disturbances between Hanover and Prussia, on account
of Frederic William's kidnappers, gave occasion to another explo-
sion of wrath, and even to an order for his troops to assemble for
the purpose of revenge. Then followed fresh attempts at recon-
ciliation and renewed negotiations on the part of the Queen ;
overtures which were but coldly received by England.

Eversmann,the Kammerdiener, too, whom Sophia Dorothea had
endeavoured to win over to her side by bribery, because she knew
he had the King's ear, betrayed her to Grumbkow, whose pay he
also received and whom he better served, and thus the secret of
this fresh attempt to carry out her English views, reached the
cars of her husband. lie immediately sent Borck and Grumbkow
to announce to her, that, weary of her intrigues, he had decided

172. MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

upon marrying his daughter, although certainly not to the
Prince of Wales, and that from a remains of kindness for her,
he would consent to give her the choice between Schwedt and
Weissenfels. The Queen replied that he was the master of
his own actions, and could certainly, if he chose, bestow his
daughter upon any petty Prince, instead of upon the heir of
three crowns ; but that for her part, she would never consent
to sacrifice her child in such a manner, arid that all she could
do in the case was, to write to her brother, and press for a
decisive answer. She also wrote to the King, entreating him
not to push matters further. The next day brought another
formal deputation from Frederic William, to repeat the pro-
posals of yesterday, and to add the threat, that, if the Queen
would not consent, he would imprison her for life, whilst the
Princess Royal should be treated with the utmost severity.

The Queen told Borck upon this occasion that she wished to
speak with him in private. She then asked his advice, as a
friend, in this emergency. He suggested that a third party
should be proposed, in order to gain time, and mentioned the
Prince of Baireuth. The Queen begged him to communicate
this idea to the King, as if it were a proposition from himself.
Meanwhile, she held council with her eldest son and daughter,
as to what must be done to avert the threatened evil. It was
agreed, that a pressing letter to the Queen of England should
be composed by Sophia Dorothea and the Princess Wilhelmina,
which should be copied and subscribed by the crown Prince,
and that the Queen should then feign illness, in order to gain
time for the transmission of this letter and the receipt of the
answer.*

* This letter ran as follows : — "Madame ma soaur et tante, Quoique j'ai deja
eu 1'honneur d'ecrire a votre Majeste, et de vous expliquer la triste situation oft je
me trouve, aussi que ma soeur, je ne saurais m'imaginer qu'une princesse dont les
vertus et le merite forment 1' admiration universelle, put laisser souffrir une soeur
qui lui est tendrement attachee, en refusant de souscrire au manage de ma soeur
et du Prince de Galles, qui cependant a etc arrete si solennellement par le traite
de Hanovre. J'ai deja donne ma parole d'honneur de n'epouser jamais que la

SOPHIA CHARLOTTE. 173

The shortest period that could bring a reply from England
was three weeks, and in the meanwhile reports did not fail to
reach the King that the Queen's illness was only assumed ; the
delay therefore did but irritate him, and when the letters from
England arrived, they were most unsatisfactory. Frederic Wil-
liam now came in person to Berlin, determined to enforce com-
pliance with his will. After a stormy interview with the Queen,
he went to the Marchioness of Schwedt, and demanded her
consent to the marriage of her son with his daughter ; but the
aged Marchioness, aware of the violent scenes which had of late
taken place in the royal family, asked him whether her Majesty
the Queen and the Princess Royal were consenting parties to the
proposed contract ; he replied that they were not, but that he
should soon " bring them to reason." The Marchioness, how-
ever, refused to listen to a proposal which would force the
Princess, against her will, into an alliance with her son.

On the King's return, he accidentally fell in with the unfor-
tunate Princess Royal, in her mother's apartments, and despite
the folding screen, which had been purposely placed so as to
cover her retreat, in case she should be thus surprised, a violent
storm of blows and abuse saluted her, before she could effect
her escape ; and Mademoiselle Sonsfeld was obliged to interpose
her own person, to prevent worse treatment of this innocent
cause of so much vexation to her father.

He then told the Queen that the Marchioness of Schwedt
had refused her daughter, and, that she might think herself
fortunate, if the Duke of Weissenfels would take her. The
Queen would have preferred even Schwedt to this Prince, the
" gros Jean Adolphe," as she called him. She therefore replied
that she would renounce the idea of an alliance with England,

princesse Amalie, sa fille, je lui reitere encore cette promesse, en cas qu'elle veuille
donner son consentement au manage de ma sceur. Nous sommes tous reduit dans
1'etat du monde le plus facheux, et tout sera perdu si elle balance encore a nous
donner une reponse favorable. Je me trouverai alors libre de toutes les promesses
que je viens de lui faire, et oblige de suivre les volontes du roi mon pere, en prenant
telle partie qu'il me proposera," &c. &c. — Baireuth, "Mem."

174 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

and consent to her daughter's marriage, provided that it was
not to the Duke of Saxe Weissenfels. " Where, then, would she
seek an alliance ? " demanded the King. " With the hereditary
Prince of Baireuth," she replied, ' ' who will at least one day be
a sovereign Prince, and who is related to our own house." A
little mollified by her apparently desisting from the English
match, the King in a milder tone gave his consent to this pro-
posal, and retired.

The manifold vexations and constant anxiety of mind suffered
by the Queen, now resulted in a violent attack of illness, during
which her life was despaired of. Frederic William was absent
at the time 011 a visit to Dresden, and a courier was despatched
to recall him. His mind had been, however, so poisoned against
his wife, that at first he imagined her malady to be only a
feint ; but on returning to Berlin, and finding that the phy-
sicians entertained but little hope of her recovery, the King,
whose emotions were as violent in sorrow as in anger, fell into
a state of the bitterest remorse. On being admitted to her
bedside, and observing her altered appearance, he gave way to
a paroxysm of grief, imploring her pardon, entreating the phy-
sicians to use their utmost efforts to restore her, and vowing
that if she died, he could not and would not survive her. Upon
his becoming in some degree calm, Sophia Dorothea begged
him, as perhaps a last request, to be reconciled to her chil-
dren.

Wholly softened by the influence of grief, he embraced his
two elder children, with tears, in her presence. Nevertheless,
the dangerous crisis being past, and the Queen's recovery an-
nounced as certain, he soon resumed his former harsh treatment
of the Prince and Princess, when not in their mother's pre-
sence.

The crown Prince especially suffered from the effects of his
severity ; on one occasion he even struck him repeatedly with
his cane, and it was said, that, in an access of fury, he had
attempted to strangle him.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 175

The young man, naturally enough, longed for freedom from
the galling constraint and perpetual insults, to which he was
obliged to submit. His sister relates, that, one night he came to
her apartment, dressed as usual on his evening excursions, in
the height of the French fashion, and told her gloomily, that he
could no longer bear his father's injustice and tyranny, and
that he had resolved to have recourse to flight. She remon-
strated with him, urgently entreating him to lay aside a plan
which would so fatally arouse the fury of the King. He said
no more at the time, and appeared to be convinced by her argu-
ments ; but he had by no means given up the idea. Irritated
to the last degree by the injuries constantly cast upon him, he
no longer attempted to conciliate his father, but spoke of his
favourite pursuits with open derision, stigmatizing the rough
field sports in which he delighted, as oppressive to the peasantry,
and, as a pastime, little better than chimney-sweeping ; whilst
he blamed his harshness to the common soldiery in matters of
discipline.

Katt, meantime, was injudicious in the extreme ; he was loud
in the praise of the Prince, whilst he publicly blamed the con-
duct of the King towards him ; he also most indiscreetly showed
a miniature of the Princess, which her brother had lent him to
copy. Whilst things were in this state, an entirely new direc-
tion seemed, for the moment, to be given to the course of
affairs, by the arrival of the English ambassador Hotham, who
was empowered to conclude the agreement for the marriage of
the Princess Royal with the Prince of Wales, provided, that the
King of Prussia, on his side, was ready to agree to that of the
crown Prince with the Princess Amelia. To the first part of
this proposition Frederic William acceeded joyfully, to the
latter he gave no answer ; but at table that day he announced
to the Queen, that the marriage of the Princess Royal with the
Prince of Wales was now settled, and drank to the health of
the young couple. Hotham preserved a constrained silence on
this occasion, but on the King's leaving the table, he again

176 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

demanded an audience. His Majesty was evidently annoyed,
and replied that he was on his road to Potsdam, and could not
wait. On his return from thence, a few days afterwards, he
told the Queen that he had resolved to marry his son to the
Princess of Brunswick Bevern. Hotham, on being again ad-
mitted to an audience, pressed the subject of the marriage of
the crown Prince, and added that he was further commissioned
to state, that the hostility of Grumbkow to the English inte-
rests was so well known, that the King of England considered
him to be a personal enemy ; that he, Hotham, only awaited the
receipt of one or two papers, which he expected to be forwarded
to him very shortly, to be in a position, not only to demonstrate
the truth of this statement, but also to prove, by means of
letters from Grumbkow to Richenbach, the Prussian resident in
England, that the former was also acting a treacherous part
towards his Prussian Majesty; that the King of England
demanded his dismissal as a mark of personal friendship to
himself; and that this stipulation being conceded, and the mar-
riage of the Prince Royal with the Princess Amelia being also
decided upon, there would be no further delay placed in the
way of the marriage of the Prince of Wales with the Princess
Royal.

The King appeared much struck with the accusation of
Grumbkow, and demanded the proofs. He also said that his
son was as yet too young to marry. Hotham, however, was
firm in maintaining, that the completion of the one match could
not take place without that of the other. " Be it so, then,"
said the King ; te I consent, on condition that my son be
appointed Stattholder of Hanover, and reside there till my
death."

Hotham replied that he would despatch a courier to ascertain
his master's will on this head, and also to hasten the despatch
of the necessary links in the chain of evidence which he had to
produce against Grumbkow.

Of course, intelligence of the storm that was brewing against

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 177

him did not fail to reach Grumbkow, through some of the
channels which he constantly kept open, and he turned all his
energies to employ the respite before proof could arrive, in
averting the impending danger. Seckendorf served him most
effectually in the matter, by insinuating to the King, that the
accusations against him were the result of the Queen's in-
trigues with England, and that the English policy was, to
place the crown Prince upon the throne, and thus, by means of
his marriage with an English Princess, to govern Prussia. Nor
were suggestions, calculated to touch the King's ruling passion,
wanting, in the shape of inuendoes upon " the vain and haughty
English daughter-in-law," to supply whose extravagance, the
proceeds of the Treasury itself, would prove inadequate.

The delight of the Queen, meantime, was extreme at this
apparently close approximation to the attainment of her dearest
wishes, and no suspicion of the secondary causes which were
thus undermining her now exultant prospects crossed her mind.
Hotham had been charged with letters from the Prince of
Wales couched in the most lover-like terms. She seemed on
the point of a complete triumph over her old enemies, Grumb-
kow and Seckendorf, whom, in her premature self-gratulation,
she treated with the most cutting contempt. The recent birth
of her youngest child, the Prince Augustus Ferdinand, too,
had attracted much of her husband's former tenderness towards
her, and all " went merry as a marriage bell " to her buoyant
anticipations.

In due time Hotham received the necessary papers from
England, and waited upon the King, fully prepared to confirm
his former statements, and to announce the willingness of
George II. to accede to the proposal with regard to the Statt-
naltership of Hanover.

But the wind now set from another quarter. Frederic
William, instead of reading the proofs of Grumbkow's delin-
quency, flung them down angrily, and said that he would receive
laws from nobody as to the selection of his servants; and, en-

N

178 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

tirely forgetting his royal dignity, in one of those explosions of
ungoverned anger to which his own dependents were constantly
subjected, he, it is said, even raised his foot, as if to kick the am-
bassador of England, and then rushed furiously from the room.

Justly indignant at this gross insult, Hotham made instant
preparations for quitting the country.

On hearing of this catastrophe, the ambassadors of Holland
and Denmark instantly besought an audience of the King, and
succeeded, by their representations, in making him regret the
violence to which he had given way, and in inducing him even
to go the length of saying that he would consent to what was
required of him. But Hotham was not to be appeased, and
proceeded in his hasty arrangements for departure.

The Queen, thus cast down from her pinnacle of exultation
to a worse position than ever, caused the crown Prince to
write to Hotham, and entreat him to reflect that his own happi-
ness and that of his sister, as well as the harmony of the two
houses of England and Prussia, now depended upon him, and
to beg him to yield to the King's wish for a reconciliation.
Hotham, however, replied, that the majesty of England had
been insulted in his person, and that he saw himself compelled,
although with the deepest regret, to break off the negotiations
and leave the Court. Before doing so he transmitted the inter-
cepted letters, which formed the proof of Grumbkow's treachery,
to the Queen.

After this occurrence, Prince Frederic, harassed by fresh in-
stances of harshness from his father, began now more seriously
to revolve the project of flight; and it was not very long
before he put it in execution.

The beginning of the year 1730 had been occupied by the
betrothal of the third Princess, Philippina Charlotte, to the
Prince of Brunswick Bevern, and the festivities consequent
upon such an event. On the 15th of July of the same year
Frederic William, accompanied by the crown Prince, set off on
a tour through his dominions, purposing to make various visits

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 179

to neighbouring Princes by the way. The first of these visits
was paid to his daughter, the Margravine of Anspach. It was
from hence that Prince Frederic had intended to effect his
escape; but his brother-in-law, fearful of incurring the King's
resentment himself, declined to furnish the necessary horses.
During their stay at Anspach, Frederic William further em-
bittered his son's mind, by openly taunting him with pol-
troonery that he had not run away, saying that, in his own
case, had his father treated him with a tithe of the same severity
he should have done so a " thousand times/'

It is useless to prolong the painful story. Suffice it, that
after some further journeying to Augsburg and various other
places, the Prince decided on attempting his escape from a
village called Neufurth, or Steinfurth, near Sinzheim, where
the King had put up for the night, and where he had preferred
the clean straw of some barns to the narrow accommodations of
the villagers' houses.

Rochow and Kummersbach had been appointed to sleep in
the same part of one of these buildings as that occupied by the
Prince. On Kummersbach's awaking he missed the Prince,
and at once roused Rochow, and they went together in search
of him. They found him. in the market-place leaning against
a carriage, waiting for the horses which he had sent Keith's
brother (one of the pages) to procure. They insisted upon his
returning with them; the Prince remonstrated angrily; but it
was useless to resist, and he submitted with sullen resignation.
In the meantime a letter which he had written to Katt, direct-
ing him whither to bend his flight, had been by mistake
forwarded to another officer of the same name, who deemed it
his duty to despatch it to the King. This unfortunate letter
reached the King at Frankfort, whither the journey had now
been continued. He ordered the Prince into the yacht which
was to convey them to Wesel, and nursed his wrath in silence.
The next day, on going on board the yacht, his fury got the
better of him at the sight of his offending son ; he seized him

N 2

180 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

by the throat, and struck him so violent a blow with the handle
of his stick, that the Prince's face was covered with blood, and
he is said to have exclaimed, " Never before did the face of a
Brandenburg submit to such disgrace."

From Frankfort, they continued this wretched journey to
Bonn, where the King was to stop to visit the Elector of
Cologne. Fearing another attempt at escape, he sent the
Prince on to Wesel : here the unfortunate young man again
made an effort to obtain his freedom, by means of a rope-ladder
which had been furnished to him, but the attempt was rendered
abortive by the vigilance of the sentinel.

Once again at Wesel, Prince Frederic was brought before his
irritated father, who called him an "infamous deserter;" and
asked him how he dared to think of escape. " Because," re-
plied the Prince, " you have treated me like a slave. I have
only done that which you yourself have said, that in my place
you would have done a thousand times."

This speech so exasperated the King, that he seized his
sword and would have slain his son had not General Mosel *
caught his arm and withheld him. During the remainder
of the homeward journey, the Prince submitted to his fate
with calmness, f

In the intervening time, at Berlin, the usual spiritual warn-
ing of impending misfortune to the house of Brandenburg, is
said to have announced the approach of evil tidings to the
Queen, whilst she was at her toilette, on the eve of the day on
which the King made the above-mentioned frantic attempt on
the life of his son. This ghostly admonition consisted of loud
and terrible noises in the rich porcelain cabinet adjoining the
Queen's bed-room. The cabinet was vainly investigated to
discover the cause of the disturbance, which was now loudly
repeated, with the addition of groans and cries of pain, in the

* The Commandant of Wesel.

•\* For details of this journey see Forster's " Jugendjahre Friedrich des Grossen,"
and Preuss's "Jugendjahre," first vol. of the "Lebens Gteschichte."

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 181

gallery communicating with the King's apartments. The ladies
in attendance, being by far too terrified to do anything but
cling together, in helpless alarm, the Queen herself took a light
in order to ascertain the cause of these extraordinary sounds ;
but she found the gallery perfectly empty, whilst the fastened
doors at the further end were guarded by a soldier, now pale
and trembling with affright.

On the 15th of August, the same courier that brought the
order for the arrest of Katt (who with the most extraordinary
foolhardiness was waiting for a saddle with conveniences for
concealing money and jewels) brought also a note from the
King to Madame de Kamecke, begging her to inform the Queen
of the attempted desertion, and the arrest of "Fritz."*

On receiving this terrible news, the unhappy mother, whom
it reached during an evening assembly, dismissed the company
with a face as pale as death, and retired with the Princess
Royal to give vent to her grief and terror, and to form the most
direful conjectures as to the probable issue of the event.

The Prince's portefeuille, containing an immense number of
letters from his mother and sister, was forwarded to the Queen
by a friendly hand after Katt's arrest ; the difficulty as to the
breaking of his arms, with which it had been sealed, being over-
come by a similar seal having been accidentally found by a
trusty domestic, the two ladies employed the few days which
intervened before the King's return, in burning these letters and
hastily fabricating fresh ones on indifferent matters to supply
their place, but, says the Margravine, "as there were near
fifteen hundred of the originals, although we worked very
hard, not more than six hundred or seven hundred could be
completed in the time •" so that the portefeuille still looked
comparatively empty, and the Queen hastily filled it up with

* The Margravine of Baireuth and Baron Pollnitz give different versions of this
intimation. The former says it was sent direct to the Queen, harshly announcing
the arrest of the ' ' coquin Fritz. " The latter, that it was addressed to Madame
de Kamecke, begging her to break the intelligence gently to the Queen.

182 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

trinkets, and "toute sorte de nippes." This was, eventually,
the cause of the discovery of the artifice, as when the porte-
feuille was opened in the presence of the Prince, he did not
recognise these interpolated articles, and Grumbkow, suspecting
the trick which had been played, exclaimed, with an inso-
lence that no other subject would have dared to be guilty of,
" These cursed women have outwitted us ! " *

On the King's return, he entered the Queen's apartment with
the stern announcement, " Your son is dead." " What ! "
shrieked the unhappy Queen, " have you murdered your son ? "
" He was not my son/' retorted the King, " he was only a
miserable deserter." On leaving the Queen he encountered his
eldest daughter, and the whole violence of his insane fury was
turned upon the poor Princess, whom he beat, and would per-
haps have murdered in the blind frenzy of the moment, had
she not been rescued, half insensible, by the interference of her
brothers and sisters and the ladies present. The mother, half
distracted, rushed wildly about the room, shrieking and wring-
ing her hands, exclaiming "Mon Dieu, mon fils! mon Dieu, mon
fils ! " The sight of the unfortunate Katt, who was led across
the court, now drew off the King's attention to a fresh victim,
and he left the fainting Princess and her distracted mother, to
be consoled by their attendants, with the assurance that the
Prince was at least still alive.

There was another scene of brutal violence with poor Katt,
who in his adversity showed that his character possessed a fund
of manly fortitude, high feeling and resignation, which had not
been called forth by his gay, thoughtless life at the French
Ambassador's/j- and about the Court. He was shortly after-
wards tried by court-martial, and condemned to be beheaded ;
this sentence was executed, despite the touching appeal made
by his father to Frederic William.

All the other parties who could be supposed to have had any
complicity in the Prince's design were treated with different mea-

* See Preuss, and Forster. f Rothenburg, whose house he frequented.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 183

sures of severity. Duhan was banished to Wesel, and Rochow
and Kaiserling degraded ill military standing. - The harshest
instance of severity, and at the same time of injustice, in these
awards, was the punishment of an unfortunate girl, named
Doris Ritter, the daughter of a respectable citizen, against
whom no heavier crime could be alleged, than, that she having
a taste for music, the Prince used sometimes to accompany her
on his flute. She was condemned to be publicly whipped
through the streets of Berlin.*

In the meantime the crown Prince was closely guarded at
Mittenwalde, about eight miles from Berlin. Hence, after sub-
mitting to an interrogation from Messrs. Grumbkow and
Derschau, he was conveyed to the fortress of Kustrinj here
he was strictly guarded, and denied at first both bed and
candle; his expenses were limited to four Groschenf a day,
and his jailors were forbidden to speak to him. The inhuman
barbarity which caused his unfortunate friend, Katt, to be
executed on a scaffold, raised to the level of the purposely-en-
larged windows of his room, whilst he was obliged to look on,
until a fainting fit mercifully relieved him from the frightful
spectacle, is a fact of too well known, and too painful a nature,
for it to be necessary to detail it here. After some time the
severity of his imprisonment was slightly relaxed, and although
books, and all other means of employment and recreation,
save the visits of the clergyman Miiller, were still forbidden,
yet friends were found, who supplied the captive with books
and writing materials ; who, when the stipulated tallow-candle
was extinguished at eight o'clock, returned with two lighted

* This unhappy victim of Frederic William's tyrannical violence, afterwards led
an obscure life as the wife of a person who let hack-carriages, who was afterwards
promoted in Frederic the Great's reign to be public commissioner of fiacres (then
a new office in Berlin). She lived in the same house with Formey, the French
preacher, author of the "Memoires d'un Citoyen ;" but both he and Thiebault
express their uncertainty, as to whether she even had a pension allowed her by
Frederic, as a token of his sense of the disgrace and misery which she had under-
gone on his account.

t About 4|d

184 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

wax ones, and even supplied the knives and forks, and other
table utensils, which were strictly forbidden by the King, lest
the unhappy young man should turn them against his own
life.

The sacrifice of poor Katt was not enough to appease the
savage anger of the King ; had it not been for the intrepidity
of two of the Generals* who composed the court-martial, to
which was deputed the trial of the crown Prince (October 25),
and for the remonstrances of the allied foreign Courts,t to all of
which Frederic William had sent information of his son's arrest,
— the greatest King to whom Prussia has given birth, would
have ended his life prematurely, like a common military deserter,
a victim to the frenzied passion of his own father; and to repeat
a somewhat hacknied remark, the history of Prussia would
have thus afforded an unhappy analogy to those of Russia,
Spain, Este and India; whilst the memory of the King of a
civilized European country, in the eighteenth century, must
have ranked with those of Brutus and Manlius, who, in the
barbarous times of heathen antiquity, made a stern virtue of
pouring a libation of their children's blood to the Moloch of
military discipline.

Grumbkow now undertook the task of mediator; possibly
the adroit courtier saw here a chance of making himself indis-
pensable to both parties ; possibly the wretched results of the
intrigues, in which he had himself taken so large a share,
aroused a better feeling in the heart of the man. At all events,
he besought the King's permission to visit the prisoner, upon
whom the eyes of the nation were now turned with loving
sympathy. The King, who had now had time for reflection, and
who, as we have so often had occasion to remark, was rather
carried away by his uncontrollable fury, than naturally cruel,
not unwillingly accorded him this permisson. Grumbkow's
next step was, (unknown to the King) to wait upon the
Queen,! who he was well aware, had but too great reason to look

* Forster. f Pollnitz. J Ibid.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 185

upon him with dislike, and whose favour he wished to regain.
Her surprise was great at this visit of her ancient enemy, and
in the delight with which she listened to the subject of his
mission, she forgot all her suspicions and ill-will, and told him,
that she freely forgave the past, in consideration of the present.
Charged, thus, with tender messages from the mother, and the
bearer of a gleam of hope for pardon from the irritated father,
Grumbkow set off for Ku'strin, where he hoped to be a
welcome visitor to the imprisoned Prince.

With all sorts of expressions of sympathy and offers of
service, he advised him to write a submissive letter to the King.
Adversity, amongst many other bitter lessons, had taught
Frederic the policy of, at least, seeming to believe in proffered
friendship. He acted, therefore, upon Grumbkow's advice, and
addressed a letter, couched in very humble terms, to the King ;
and henceforth we find Grumbkow the medium, through whom
was brought about the gradual reconciliation between father
and son.

The King, upon the receipt of this letter, despatched a de-
putation to the crown Prince, to notify to him, that he was at
liberty to leave the fortress, though not the town of Ku'strin,
on condition of an oath, to be first administered to him, of
strict obedience to his father's will in all things. The deputa-
tion was further charged to state, that, for the useful employ-
ment of his time by attention to civil affairs, he was to take
his place as junior counsellor in the Domanen-Kammer of the
town. Frederic took the required oath, and expressed his
willingness to enter upon the employment assigned him, but
begged to be allowed once more to wear his sword. This
perhaps, went as far as anything else to restore him to his
father's good opinion. " Does Fritz wish to be a soldier ? "
said he; "that is well at least. "

Henceforward, the life of the crown Prince at Ku'strin, was
lightened of its chief hardships, and had even its own peculiar
pleasures ; for though strictly forbidden either to read, or write

186 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

anything, but what related to the business of the Domain-
Chamber, or to speak French, still he had the companionship
of his flute, whilst the castle of Tamsel, at a short distance
from Kiistrin, where resided the family of Von Wrech, afforded
him, in the society of its younger members, a pleasant resource
against the ennui attendant upon too great solitude. Money,
too, was here forthcoming, although the family of Von Wrech
was numerous and not over rich ; and it is said, that one of
the few female attachments which Frederic ever formed,
attracted him principally to this place.

Meantime, the Princess Royal fared but little better than her
brother. She was confined to her own apartment, denied the
consolation of seeing her mother, and fed upon " ragouts de
vieux os, remplis de cheveux et de saloperies," and that so
sparingly, that the inhabitants of the French colony at Berlin,
upon her position becoming known, used to send her provisions
privately.

The propositions also with regard to Schwedt and Weissen-
fels, were now, from time to time, renewed; letters on this
subject were conveyed between the Queen and the Princess in
various ways ; at one time in a cheese, at another by a trust-
worthy messenger. The Queen still urged her daughter not to
consent to anything, and even to make a vow " by her eternal
salvation," to marry no one but the Prince of Wales.

We will not stay to tell- of the scenes, in which the King
threatened to strike his wife, to cause Mademoiselle Sonsfeld to
be publicly whipped, &c., &c. ; but we pass on to the deputation,
which, once more, formally offered the Princess her choice
between the Margrave of Schwedt, the Duke of Weissenfels,
and the Prince of Baireuth. Wearied out with the hateful
contest, in which the subject of her marriage had so long in-
volved her, she determined, despite the Queen's adjurations to
firmness, to accept the Prince of Baireuth, whom she had not
seen, in preference to the two others with whom she was
acquainted ; but she made it the express condition of her con-

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 187

sent, that her father, on his side, should agree to the liberation
of her brother. On the receipt of the letter in which the
Princess informed her mother of the step she had taken, the
Queen wrote back a hasty and intemperate reply, threatening
the Princess, that " she would never forgive her," that " she
considered her a most cruel enemy," that " she disowned
her," &c., &c. On the interview which ensued between the
mother and daughter, the latter' s long-taxed feelings overcame
her, and she fainted. But Sophia Dorothea, with a hardness
which those who had offended her, frequently experienced, was
little touched by her daughter's situation, and bitterly up-
braided her, on her recovery, with the cowardice which had led
her to accede to her father's wishes. Kamen, however, came to
the aid of the Princess, by representing to the Queen, that the
King would be very angry, did he hear of her conduct ; and
then, as she greatly dreaded her husband's violence, she con-
sented to moderate her tone. But, from this time, the Princess
Royal experienced a great degree of coldness, and at times,
even of unkindness, in her mother's demeanour towards her.
The King, on the contrary, overwhelmed his daughter with
caresses, for this proof of her obedience, and the preparations
for the wedding were hurried on. Even yet, strange to say, the
Queen's favourite project of the English marriage, seemed to her
not utterly hopeless ; and when she was misinformed, that the
whole affair was but a feint, on the part of the King, she
readily believed it. Great, therefore, was her consternation, when
the Prince of Baireuth actually arrived, and most ungracious
the reception she accorded him. The King was incensed at her
thus tacitly continuing her opposition. et Le diable, m'emporte !
Je saurai mettre fin a vos tracasseries," said he. The Princess,
on the other hand, seems to have been better satisfied with the
appearance and manners of her future bridegroom. She dared
not, however, accord him even a glance, in the presence of the
Queen, who had strictly forbidden her to speak to her betrothed,
and had ordered her to slight him as much as possible. This,

188 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

however, she would not do, and, no doubt, she managed to make
it sufficiently apparent to him, that she was not of the same
opinion as her mother, with regard to him. The Prince, seeing
that the Queen was thus averse to receive him as a son-in-law,
demanded an audience of her, and, in a modest and manly way,
assured her, that, however highly honoured he might feel him-
self to be, by the King's selection of him for a son-in-law (and
that he had been also told it was with her sanction), yet, that
lie would never so far presume upon the claim thus given him,
as to persist in his suit, contrary to the wishes of herself and
the Princess. The Queen, who was by no means wanting in
appreciation of honourable feeling, was struck by the frank
manner in which this appeal was made ; she even allowed that
he was " spiritual."

On the evening of the betrothal, the King embraced his
daughter with tears, which continued to flow all the evening ;
whilst the Queen was cold and constrained ; each giving way,
as usual, to the feeling of the moment.

And what, on the morrow, were the sensations of all parties
when Grumbkow presented the despatches from England (which
he feigned to have but just received, although, in reality,
he had withheld them till after the betrothal),* announcing
that George II. was willing to consent to the marriage of the
Prince of Wales with the Princess Royal of Prussia, without
insisting, at that time, on the double marriage !

The Queen, in her excitement and delight, saw no obstacle to
the fulfilment of her wishes. The King, on the contrary,
although, in fact, he had the English marriage almost as much
at heart as the Queen, conceived himself bound, in honour, to
complete the engagement with the Prince of Baireuth ; and the
commands of honour were, to Frederic William, sacred obliga-
tions ; whilst the Princess, whose character was fast developing,
under the trials to which she had been subjected, was equally
determined not to secede from her engagement to a man to

* Pollnitz.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 189

whom she was not indifferent, and beside whom she looked for,
at least, a haven of refuge from the storms, which the subject of
her marriage had roused to rage around her. When the Queen,
however, discovered her husband's intentions, she spared no
effort to disgust the Prince of Baireuth. She once more forbade
her daughter to speak to him ; she left the room in displeasure
when he ventured on some little, almost accidental, piece of
gallantry with his betrothed. She endeavoured to turn him
into ridicule ; but here she was foiled at her own weapons.
She asked him, in derision, did he understand music, painting,
history, geography, &c. "Yes," answered he, in order to put
a stop to this catalogue of the accomplishments required to fit
him for her daughter, " yes ; and I know the creed and the cate-
chism, too \" She made all sorts of delays in the preparation
of the trousseau ; she was absolutely ill with vexation ; but
still the inevitable day approached.

The King, meantime, showed his sense of the sacrifice he had
made, in keeping his engagement, in a way but little more satis-
factory to the poor Prince of Baireuth, who was dubbed " milk-
sop " and " dandy," because he did not drink enough, nor smoke
enough, nor hunt enough, to satisfy his august father-in-law's
ideas of manliness and thorough-breeding ; and if he did not
improve in the first respect, it was from no fault of the King's
that he was not intoxicated every night of his stay at Berlin.
The time which yet intervened before the marriage, was spent
at Wusterhausen, one of the King's favourite summer resi-
dences, which, for the benefit of my readers, I will describe.
Frederic William had raised, at some cost of labour, a barren
hill of sand, which hid the mansion from view until the summit
was gained. The building was not spacious, and was surrounded
by a moat of stagnant water, generally anything rather than
either fragrant, or wholesome. The only entrance to the court-
yard of this " enchanted palace" * was through a wing at each
end, the gates of which were respectively guarded by two white

* Baireuth.

190 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

eagles, two black ones, and two bears, savage brutes, which
tried to fly at every one who approached, and which were the
terror of the Court. In this congenial abode, the King passed
his time much to his liking, in hunting and other such amuse-
ments. The dinner of the royal family was taken, in all wea-
thers, under a tent, pitched beneath a great lime tree in the
garden, where the guests sometimes sat above their ankles in
water, and where, moreover, the fare was so sparingly provided,
that those who could get anything to eat, were obliged to con-
tent themselves with a very frugal meal, while those who could
not, had to fast. After this sumptuous repast, the King took
his seat in an arm-chair, on the terrace; and there, with his
children seated, or crouching on the ground around him, in the
full blaze of the sun, it was his pleasure to take a siesta.

The Princesses, when relieved from the duty of guarding
their father's slumbers, were under orders to attend the Queen
at her favourite game of Toccadille, at which we are assured she
sometimes played from morning till night.*

Under these somewhat peculiar domestic arrangements, it is
perhaps not surprising, that the Princess Royal, who, meantime,
was reproached by the Queen and taunted by her sisters, should
have rather wished to experiment upon an establishment of her
own, even though it were but a small one. The family from
which the Prince of Baireuth was descended, was a younger
branch of that house, whose progenitor had sold his right of
inheritance to Frederic I. ; but, upon the estate lapsing to the
Prince's father, in default of a male heir to the elder branch,
Frederic William, finding that the money had not been paid, and
that there were legal objections to the transfer of the Baireuth
property, with that sense of justice which always distinguished
his actions on such occasions, ceded his claims without contest.

The day of the marriage, Nov. 20, 1731, at last arrived. The
important affair of the bride's toilette occupied the hands of all
the Court ladies, and the Queen herself undertook to dress her
* See /'Mem." Baireuth.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 191

hair ; but being no adept in the art of arranging the formidable
fortifications of curls, powder and pomatum, which were then
worn upon the head, she was obliged to give it up to the ladies
of the bed-chamber. Then she was not satisfied with the effect ;
as fast as one side was done, she disarranged it. In fact, she
was hoping against hope, that an English courier might yet
arrive, in time to stop the fatal ceremony, which she was thus
striving to defer to the utmost limit of time. But it was all in
vain. The wedding took place. The King succeeded very
tolerably in his effort to intoxicate the bridegroom, and per-
formed the further paternal duty, of making the bride, when
undressed, kneel down on the floor to repeat the creed and the
Lord's Prayer aloud. Still there had been no sign of Frederic
William's readiness to fulfil the promise which his daughter had
required of him as the condition of her obedience — no mention
was made of the return of the crown Prince from his banish-
ment ; when on the night of the 23rd, at a grand state ball, in
which seven hundred couples danced, a young man, simply
dressed in gray, was observed to stand for a length of time be-
hind the Queen's chair, as she was engaged at cards. She did
not observe the stranger, until he stooped and kissed her hand,
and then to her delight she recognised her son. The meeting
was a very touching one, although the recollection of the sacri-
fice at which his liberation had been procured, considerably
damped the Queen's pleasure.

The Margravine of Baireuth, as we must now call the Princess
Wilhelmina, remarks, that her brother had grown colder and
more constrained in manner ; that he was stouter, and not so
handsome : certainly the trials which he had endured, were not
of a kind to open his heart, or add to the liveliness of his dis-
position ; nor was the life of Kiistrin calculated to develope his
muscular powers, or improve his personal appearance. He
again returned to Kiistrin for a short period, after his sister's
marriage, until his appointment to a regiment which was posted
at Riippin, rendered his presence there necessary. At Ruppin

192

MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

he sedulously devoted himself to those military duties, which, he
knew, could alone entirely procure him his father's approbation;
he endeavoured also to procure tall recruits, and though he
thus incurred debt and difficulty, yet he succeeded in his
object ; and if he still studied and played the flute, he was wise
enough to do it in private. From this time until his father's
death, no serious quarrels took place between them. After the
crown Prince's marriage, in 1 733, especially, his father frequently
testified his affection and regard for his heir.

The Margravine of Baireuth, who had done so much to secure
him this tranquillity, and whose joyful caresses, for some unac-
countable reason, he had received so coldly on the night of his
return to Berlin, could not fail to be wounded by his apparent
want of cordiality, and a coolness, trifling indeed, but yet appa-
rent, seems to have subsisted between the brother and sister for
some time; but this estrangement afterwards wore away, and
they were once more on affectionate and intimate terms.*

Though this Princess and her husband remained for a con-
siderable length of time at Berlin after their marriage, as the
latter was detained by military duties, yet the Queen could not
sufficiently overcome her chagrin at the repeated failure of her
plans to treat her daughter with the same affection as formerly ;
neither could the King conquer his growing parsimony enough
to give her more than a paltry sum as a dowry, which she found
miserably inadequate to her expenditure.

The marriage of the crown Prince with the Princess of Bruns-
wick Bevern took place in June, 1733, and was immediately
followed by that of the Princess Philippina Charlotte, with
Prince Charles of Brunswick Bevern, brother of Elizabeth
Christina, the new crown Princess. These marriages could not
fail to be exceedingly displeasing to the Queen, the more so,

* He did not approve of his sister's marriage to a prince of so insignificant a
house ; he said, when Hille, the kammer-director of Kiistrin, informed him of the
match which was about to take place, "Voilii ma soeur fiancee a quelque gredin,
et malheureuse pour toute sa vie."

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 393

that, by her instigation, a fresh proposition had been made on
the part of England, despite the existence of their respective
engagements, for the marriage of the crown Prince with the
Princess Amelia of England ; for that of his sister Charlotte
with the Prince of Wales ; and for that of Prince Charles of
Brunswick with the Princess Ann of England. This proposal,
however, like that which had arrived too late to stop the be-
trothal of the Princess Royal, failed by reason of Frederic
William's strict adherence to his pledged word.

During the next year the King's attention was much occupied
by the war for the succession of Poland, Augustus the Strong
died in 1733, and Stanislaus Lecksinski was re-elected to the
throne by one part of the nation, whilst the other declared for
Augustus II. Frederic William was far from continuing to the
son of the late King of Poland the friendship which he had
testified towards his boon companion, Augustus the Strong ;
but although personally friendly towards Stanislaus, when the
latter' s son-in-law, Louis XV., threatened to make war upon
Austria on his behalf, the King of Prussia held himself prepared
to support his imperial ally ; consequently, he was deeply in-
terested in the question whether France and Austria would
ultimately have recourse to arms or not.

Moreover, he considered it to be the duty of every German
Prince to combine to keep the " French scoundrels," his prime
aversion, and other "foreign dogs," off German ground. His
boast was, " I am no Frenchman ; I am true German." When,
therefore, hostilities seemed to be impending, he warmly ex-
pressed his readiness to support the Emperor, provided that all
were done " Reichs-constitutions-messig." " Dann," said he,
" ohne raisonniren, drup ! drup ! mit die grosste Plesir von der
Welt." * And again, " The Emperor will always find me a
faithful ally; he may reckon on 50,000 naen."

The Queen was less than ever inclined to the Austrian
interests, and looked upon her husband's inclination to take an
* Letter to Seckendorf, 1729.

O

194 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

active part in the war with displeasure. Besides, she, justly
enough, distrusted the sincerity of Austria, and openly expressed
her opinions on the subject ; as once, when the King alluded to
his devotion to Austria, she exclaimed, " I shall live to make
you, who are so incredulous, believe, and prove to you how you.
are deceived." * Her disapprobation also sometimes found
vent in contemptuous expressions with regard to her husband's
generalship and military genius, for which she does not appear
to have entertained much respect. On one occasion, during
Prince Eugene's visit to Berlin, in 1727, the King expressed
his wish that a war might take place ; whereupon she exclaimed
scornfully, " You 1 you wish for war ? " And at another time,
when he spoke somewhat disparagingly of the English com-
manders, she retorted, " No doubt they must wish to give you
the command of their army."

But Frederic William's zeal in behalf of Austria was con-
siderably slackened by the procrastination of that Power in
guaranteeing to him the ultimate succession of Juliers and
Berg. A promise of this had drawn him, in 1726, into the
compact of Wusterhausen, by which he gave his assent to the
Pragmatic Sanction ; and Seckendorf had managed to keep
him in good-humour with Austria ever since. Nevertheless, as
time wore on, Frederic William grew impatient, and sometimes
uttered his complaints so loudly, that the Austrian envoy was
obliged to shut his ears absolutely, in order not to take offence
on behalf of his Court.

When the war actually commenced, Frederic William
therefore sent only 10,000 men as his contingent, instead of
50,000, which he had originally purposed to despatch to the
aid of the Emperor. Accompanied by the crown Prince, he,
however, himself visited the imperial camp during that unsuc-
cessful campaign on the Rhine, in which the veteran Prince
Eugene found, that age had dimmed the quickness of his eye
and the readiness of his resource; whilst his friends and
* See Vehse.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 195

admirers were forced to confess that the field of battle was no
longer the place for the aged man that had, in him, outlived the
warrior.

Frederic William's health had now been long declining.
Shortly after the marriage of the crown Prince he had been
seized, whilst indulging, surrounded by his family, in his usual
after-dinner sleep, with a sort of fit, which had greatly terrified
the Queen and all present. Repeated attacks of gout also
assailed him. Whilst with the army on the Rhine, he was
seized by a violent fit of this malady. An incision, which had
been necessary during the attack of 1730, opened afresh, and
was injudiciously healed by the surgeon who attended him.
From this time the King had few remissions of suffering. He
returned, as soon as possible, to Potsdam and to the careful
nursing of his wife, who never left him during his frequent ill-
nesses ; but his indisposition had increased fearfully during the
journey, so that on his arrival he was in a deplorable state, and,
for some time, was considered in extreme danger. However,
the natural strength of his constitution once more rallied, and
he recovered, at least in some degree. It was his custom during
these attacks of gout to paint, or rather to daub, for his paint-
ings show but little skill in execution or design.* Some of

* The ' ' Karakterziige" relate, amongst other anecdotes of Frederic "William
in his character of artist, that one day (when in his usual health) he asked the
castellan, who had a good deal of dry humour, his opinion of a hunting piece he
had just completed. "It is excellent, your Majesty," he replied ; "quite in the
style of the celebrated Dutch painter Bas Claas, who used to letter the figures, and
write underneath, "A is the hound, B is the stag." The King jumped up to
chastise him, but the castellan ran so fast round a great table that his master's
anger had time to evaporate in the heat of the chase.

Another anecdote relates that the King once obliged a picture -dealer to take one
of his pictures at the sum of 100 Thalers, which he, wishing to please the King,
had stated to be its value. But Frederic William, in bargains of this sort, which
delighted him excessively, was sometimes outwitted. On this occasion the dealer
hung the picture outside his shop, inscribed, ' ' For sale ; painted by H. M. the
King of Prussia." Frederic William did not approve of this treatment of his
work, and sent to reclaim it at the sum for which he had sold it. "Nay," said
the dealer, "a man must live: his Majesty must give me 150 Thalers as the
price."

O 2

196 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

these performances have heen preserved, and bear the inscrip-
tion, " Fredericus Wilhelmus in tormentis pinxit," written with
his own hand.

Sometimes he used to assemble his friends round his bed, to
hold the tabagie in his room; at others he amused himself in
making boxes or other carpenter's work, for the accomplishment
of which, he had a table adjusted to fit across his bed; and the
sound of his hammer, which might be heard night and day
when he was -very ill, informed the inhabitants of the neigh-
bouring streets of the state of their sovereign's health. Yet
amidst his severest sufferings Frederic William never forgot the
business of the State, nor omitted to dedicate a certain portion
of time every day to its accomplishment.

He about this time experienced several losses and changes
amongst his ancient friends. Between him and Anhalt there
had for some time been a degree of coldness. Seckendorf
was recalled to his Court, or rather caused himself to be
recalled, for the King's recruiters had committed some
depredations on the Austrian territories, and Seckendorf s
remonstrances upon the subject were not attended to ; he, con-
sequently, in 1735, applied for his recall. He was afterwards
employed by the Emperor to take the command of the expedi-
tion against the Turks, on account of the unsuccessful issue of
which he was arrested on his return to Vienna. He was suc-
ceeded at Berlin by Prince Lichtenstein, a man of less ability,
and one, moreover, who did not understand Frederic William.
The latter never ceased during the still-pending negotiations as
to the succession of Juliers and Berg to regret his old friend,
and to sigh for his return. " Austria/' he said, " is tired of
me ; she has withdrawn Seckendorf, in whom I had confidence,
and who understood me."*

Grumbkow, too, was no longer in such high favour as of
yore; a suspicion of his fidelity had been aroused in the King's
mind by various circumstances. The health of this minister,
* Seckendorf 's " Journal Secret."

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 197

like that of his master, had succumbed to the then prevalent
habit of deep drinking. Shortly before the death of Augustus
the Strong, Grumbkow had been sent on a mission to him at
Crossen; and the time which they spent together there was
honoured by such plentiful libations, that neither the King of
Poland, nor the Prussian Minister ever entirely recovered the
effects of the debauch. On the night of the death of Augustus,
his apparition is said to have been beheld by Grumbkow, who
was in bed at the time, but, as he always declared, wide awake.

Reports of his having received bribes from La Chetardie, the
French Minister, are said to have reached Frederic William j
however that may be, on the news of the death of Grumbkow
reaching him, in 1739, he said, " If he had lived ten days longer,
I should have arrested him ;" he also seemed highly dissatisfied
by an examination of his late favourite's papers.

The continual series of family misunderstandings at Court
has hitherto prevented my adverting to the influence, which the
reign of such a sovereign as Frederic William, necessarily exer-
cised over the newly-germinating seeds of literature and science
at Berlin. The latter part of the reign of Frederic I. had been
unfavourable to the development of those then rare and foreign
plants, from the absence of any person of rank of sufficient
mental cultivation to appreciate their value. But when Frederic
William came to the throne, it was with the express intention
of discouraging all such vile waste of time, as he considered
literary and scientific pursuits to be. The great Leibnitz him-
self he pronounced to be an " unprofitable, foolish old fellow,
of no use even as a sentinel;" and on the philosopher's death,
in derision of the Academy of Sciences, he appointed his un-
happy fool and jester, Gundling, to occupy his place as presi-
sident. He is said only once during his reign to have had
recourse to the Academy on any scientific question, and that
was upon the cause of the effervescence of champagne. The
members of the Society, owing him a grudge for the neglect
with which they had been treated, demanded fifteen dozen of

198 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

the best champagne to make their experiments upon; but
Frederic William replied, that, sooner than let them drink his
good wine, he would remain in ignorance of the cause of its
effervescence all his life. Probably the department of Medicine
alone preserved the Academy in existence ; the King required
skilful physicians for his beloved blue children, and consequently
allowed that this branch of the Institution was useful.

Early in his reign he had established a college of his own of
a very different kind ; this was the famous " Tabaks Collegium,"
Smoking College, or " Tabagie/' in which he and his officers, and
certain of his favourites, used to assemble every evening, and fre-
quently remain till late into the night, engaged in smoking and
drinking beer. The Tabagie was furnished with a long table,
surrounded by wooden seats ; at one end was a large wooden
chair of honour, surmounted by hares' ears, which was occupied
by the King's fool. During the visit paid by Stanislaus Leck-
sinski to Frederic William, in 1736, he constantly formed one
of these parties, which began at seven in the evening, and fre-
quently did not terminate till two, or three o'clock in the morn-
ing. The King of Prussia and the ex-King of Poland used to
emulate each other in smoke upon these occasions, each of
them exhausting from thirty to thirty-two pipes in the course
of one session. Seckendorf, of course, formed one of these
assemblies, and he writes to Prince Eugene, that he has applied
himself especially, to gain those officers who form the smoking
collegiate, because they have, from constant association, most
influence over the King.* The unhappy jester, Gundling, who
has been mentioned, was in fact a person of considerable talent,
although evidently of weak mind; he had at first been Pro-
fessor in the Military Academy formed by Frederic William on
his accession. But the King and his officers found that, after
a time, they became weary of each other's conversation : they
therefore came to the conclusion, that it might be better to have
a person of some information, who, when their own topics of

* See Vehse.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 199

conversation waxed threadbare, should furnish them with new
ideas. Gundling, then, was chosen to supply the " plentiful
lack of wit " of the whole party, and to furnish sport for the
Philistines besides, for they considered " all learned persons to
be fools," and a fool was allowedly a fair subject for their
jokes. They forced the poor man to drink until it became an
incurable habit; and when intoxicated, they exercised the
most barbarous practical jokes upon him ; sometimes they would
wall up his door and leave him to grope for it the whole night :
sometimes they would put young bears (of which several, with
their claws cut, always ran loose at Wusterhausen), into his
bed; once he was nearly hugged to death by one of these
animals. Rendered wretched, as well as injured in health by
the merciless persecutions of his tormentors, poor Gundling
escaped to his brother, a learned professor at Halle. But
Frederic William and his colleagues of the Tabagie, were lost
without their butt ; he was fetched back, and the old course of
brutal jokes resumed at his expense. But their victim remained
silent and melancholy ; they relaxed therefore slightly in their
efforts, finding that he no longer amused them, and allowed him
a little peace. On his death even, one last ferocious joke was
perpetrated upon his corpse by the King's order, namely, that
of burying him in a wine cask.* He was succeeded in his
honourable office by Fassman and Morgenstern.

During the latter years of the King's life his tendency to
eccentricity and parsimony increased upon him daily. He was
of a singularly restless and active disposition himself, and he
abhorred idleness in others. He had long since made a decree
that all those women who kept stalls in the streets of Berlin
should occupy their time in knitting or spinning, f and a
regular return was made of the products of their industry,
which was received as part payment of their licence. He also
ordained, that a report should be made to the judicial authori-
ties, of all such young women as spent their time in idle amuse-

* See Morgenstern for this account.

t See Rodenbeck, " Beitrage zum Leben F. W. I."

200 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

ments; that admonitions should be administered to such young
persons and their parents ; and that severer measures should
be resorted to if amendment did not take place. This hatred
of idleness and loss of time, however, now so grew upon the
King, that it was dangerous for any one to meet him in the
streets on a week-day. An interrogation was sure to ensue ;
probably a sound rating and much abuse; and if the offender
could not give a good account of his business, or stumbled
upon a French word in his alarm, a blow of the ever-ready
stick, or perhaps even arrest, awaited him. Wherever the King
appeared the streets were cleared as if by magic. Upon one
occasion he caused two young girls, whom he met on a week-
day in the gardens of Charlottenburg, to be put under arrest,
without even taking the trouble to inquire their names \ their
families, who were of the highest respectability, and who did
not know what had become of them, were meantime in the
greatest anxiety on their account.

The stick which he used in his summary administration of
chastisement, was latterly never out of his hand, unless he was
too ill to wield it. His health might even, in some degree, be
judged of by the freedom of its application ; for, says Secken-
dorf, in his journal, during Frederic William's desperate illness
in 1734, 29th October, " The King beats the Jagers because
they have stolen wood : the crisis seems over."

His habit of striking had grown so strong upon him, says
Morgenstern, that he could not withstand it, but rather " ima-
gined it to be necessary to maintain an orderly household."
" He used sometimes to go amongst his servants with his stick,
and say, ' You have had nothing for a long time ; you must
have something, lest you grow lazy/ " In matters of economy
he was as original as in other things : he made reductions in
all imaginable articles of expenditure, even to the paper on
which official reports were handed in to him. In one of his
usual marginal comments on those documents he writes, "Stuff
not worth the paper. Shall take worse."

As regarded also the actual diet for the Palace consumption,

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 201

even the Queen complained, writes Seckendorf, of the "horrible
avarice" of the King in this respect. He was a great eater
himself, though no epicure, " devouring much solid food, and
scarcely masticating it." Nevertheless, he reduced the quan-
tity of food provided for the twenty-four persons who ordinarily
constituted the company at the royal table, to the most
famine-struck proportions, whilst the expense of its main-
tenance was reduced to seven Thalers daily.*

Seckendorf says, " The poor Princes and Princesses had often
not a mouthful of anything eatable;" and Thiebault, in his
" Souvenirs," asserts that Pollnitz, who was then gentleman
of the Chamber, told him the Queen's table was often so
sparingly supplied, that he himself had often, out of his own
pocket, paid for eggs to furnish an omelette for her supper.

I might here relate numberless anecdotes of Frederic William's
eccentricities, but I have already overstepped the limits which
I had prescribed to myself. I therefore only insert one or two,
in which the Queen is mentioned as one of the parties con-
cerned.

Sophia Dorothea had a set of very splendid diamonds, which
she seldom ventured to wear in the presence of her arbitrary
and display- abhorring lord. She herself, however, had no ob-
jection to array her fine person in costly attire, and upon one
occasion, during the King's temporary indisposition, she ap-
peared at a birth-day ball at Monbijou adorned with these
magnificent ornaments. The evening was very gay in the
absence of the stern master; the dancing and music were at
their height, and the Queen was deeply immersed in her game,
when the announcement, (f The King is coming," caused a
general consternation. The music ceased ; the dancing stopped;
and the Queen, as she sat, hastily unclasped her jewels, and
thrust them into her pocket, before the King had time to
withdraw his angry gaze from the brilliantly and extravagantly
lighted apartment, and perceive them.

* Seckendorf s "Journal Secret."

202 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Another story is related by Thiebault, which, were it not for
the King's eccentric character, we should scarcely credit. It
is well known that he had ordered his own and his wiiVs
coffins to be constructed before his death, and on the completion
of the work, says this author, he obliged the horrified Queen,
who " looked upon the order almost as a death-warrant," to lie
down in hers; he then fitted his own, out of which he was
obliged to ask her assistance to raise himself again.

We have but few and incidental notices of Sophia Dorothea
during the latter part of her husband's life. She was con-
stantly occupied with her attendance upon him ; she seldom
left his room for months before his death, save to follow him in
his wheeled chair ; she bore with his impatience, soothed his
suffering, and hers was the hand which, to the last, best smoothed
the pillow, and administered the potion. Surely such devotion
might atone for many a gust of passion, and many an ungene-
rous deed of earlier years.

At the time of the marriage of the crown Prince, the Mar-
gravine of Baireuth gives a painful description of the alteration
in her mother's appearance, and of the increased irritability of
her temper, which had been soured by frequent disappointment.
But probably the comparative calm which succeeded this event
acted beneficially upon her mind and health, and at least par-
tially restored her former equanimity, for at the time of her hus-
band's death, though exceedingly stout, she was still a very fine-
looking woman j and she preserved also, that graceful courtesy
of manner, and that dignity of demeanour, which had always
characterised her. She does not appear even yet to have
entirely given up all hopes of an English alliance, as we find
Baron Seckendorf (the nephew of that Seckendorf to whom we
have so frequently had occasion to allude) referring to a " recon-
ciliation between the houses of England and Prussia nego-
tiated by the Queens ;" and again stating that "La Herwein
has conveyed the portrait of Ulrica to the Prince of Wales, and
entertained Olympia (the Queen) with false hopes. " After

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 203

awhile comes this passage in the " Journal Secret: " — " Olympia
is in despair that the marriage of Ulrica has failed, and irritates
the King against my uncle and the Imperial Court, the more
that she has now nothing further to hope on the side of Eng-
land. Nevertheless the Queen of England has written a letter
full of tenderness and of assurances of friendship, which
Biberius (Grumbkow) has seen in the original. As the Prince
of Wales is no longer to be thought of for Ulrica, they speak
of the eldest son of the hereditary Prince of Darmstadt, but
Biberius does not think that the King will consent, since he
has plenty of poor sons-in-law already." At a yet later date
follows the entry, " The King is about to marry les beaux yeux
(the Princess Ulrica) into the family, at which Olympia is in
despair." This danger, however, was averted, and Ulrica
proved eventually, to be the only one of Sophia Dorothea's
daughters who was destined to wear a crown.

The Queen was on good terms with the crown Prince, although
her dislike to his wife does not seem to have worn away with
time.* It is probable that she hoped, that on the accession of
the son who had always shown himself so obedient to her will,
and so attentive to her wishes, she would assume a greater weight
in the Government than her husband had ever allowed her ; the
sequel will show whether her expectations were well founded.

In the beginning of November, 1739, the King was attacked
by his last illness. He rallied again sufficiently to go out, and
even to join in the sledge excursions which took place during
the visit of the Duke and Duchess of Brunswick to Berlin at
Christmas. He also privately countermanded the orders which
had been given by the various ladies and gentlemen of the Court
to the tradesmen for dresses, &c., for a masked ball, of which
he disapproved. Finding himself better one evening, he caused
himself to be dressed and taken to the smoking-room, to which
he summoned the members of the Tabagie, and appeared gay
and lively. Unfortunately, however, on the entrance of the
* Seckendorf says, " Olympia hait mortellement la Princesse Royale."

204 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

crown Prince, these guests, contrary to the laws of the College,
rose from their seats. This " homage to the rising sun," as he
termed it, so irritated the King, that he dismissed the company
in disgrace, and was not reconciled to the crown Prince for
some time. But the constant affection and attention which
Frederic, much to his credit, testified to his dying father, could
not fail to have its effect ; and the King embraced him a few
days before his death, thanking God for giving him so good a
son, and so worthy a successor.

He now became rapidly worse, and it was evident to all that
the final struggle was nigh at hand. He made all the arrange-
ments for his funeral, and for a post-mortem examination, to
ascertain the cause of death ; he ordered his coffin to be brought
into his room for his inspection, with the greatest coolness.
He also spoke long and earnestly with the clergyman, Roloff,
who rigidly reminded him of all the acts of oppression and in-
justice of which he had been guilty. "You do not spare me,"
said the King, " but I do not see that I have been guilty of any
such heinous sin as must exclude me from Heaven ; at least I
have kept the Commandments, and I have always been faithful
to my wife."

The Queen sent for the crown Prince on the night of the
26th of May, in consequence of a change which had taken
place in the King. But when Frederic arrived from Rheins-
berg, whence he had travelled with all speed, he was astonished
to find the King in his chair, in the garden ; it was, however,
but a momentary rally. He had a long final conversation with
the Prince Royal, and took a solemn and tender leave of the
Queen, his sons and daughters, and other relatives. On
the morning of the 31st of May, he caused himself to be
conveyed in his chair, very early, to the Queen's apartment.*

* Pollnitz met him on this occasion, at six o'clock in the morning ; he had also
been to the chamber of one of his younger children who was indisposed ; he was
wrapped in a white dressing gown, and had the marks of death plainly visible in
his face.

i

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 205

" Rise," said he, " I have but a few hours to live,, and I would
at least have the satisfaction of dying in your arms." He then
went back to his own room, and being placed at the window, he
ordered his horses to be brought out, and presented two of the
finest to Anhalt and Haack, as a parting gift ; but even here
Frederic William was the same man as ever ; * the grooms had
not saddled the horses to his liking, " Go out," he said to
Haack, "and flog me those scoundrels." The Queen then
entered, and the King's weakness shortly after overpowering
him, he fainted and was put to bed ; he recovered yet again
and asked for a mirror. "I am changed," he said, "I shall
make an ugly face in dying. "f He asked his medical attendant
Ellert, how long he had to live ; he was told that his pulse was
failing. His last words were " Lord Jesus, I live in Thee, I die
in Thee. Thou art my gain in life and death." The Queen
was led out of the room as Frederic William breathed his last,
in the arms of his son and successor. Thus, May 31, 1740,
in the 52nd year of his age, and the 27th of his reign, died
Frederic William, the second King of Prussia.

The loss of a husband, who, despite his frequent harsh treat-
ment, had been sincerely attached to her, and who was endeared
by the habitual intercourse of many years, deeply affected
Sophia Dorothea. When the Marchioness of Baireuth revisited
Berlin, she found her mother clad in deep mourning, and with
an air of profound dejection impressed upon her features. This
was, perhaps, in part, owing to the fact, that the son whom she
had hoped almost wholly to govern, had shown a more utter
disinclination to any interference in the Government than his

* He was very particular, in practising his troops with the musket, that the
report of the pieces should present one unbroken roll, like a chromatic scale on a
musical instrument ; and when he was giving orders for his body-guard to
fire the last salute at his funeral, he called out briskly, "But take care the
dogs don't bungle at it."

f Frederic William was terribly altered in personal appearance long before his
death. Bielefeld describes him, in 1738, as being excessively corpulent, his head
sunk deep between his shoulders, whilst various shades of "red, yellow, blue,
and green," mingled frightfully in his complexion.

206 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

father ever had done. He had indeed, with perhaps a spice of
that half-playful malice, with which he had raised and then
quenched the hopes of some of the needy courtiers who had
paid court to the rising sun, raised her expectations, by privately
asking her counsel — about the building of an opera house ! He
was, however, always most tenderly respectful to her. When,
after his father's funeral, she addressed him as "Your Majesty/'
he interrupted her by saying, " Always call me your son, that
title is dearer to me than the royal dignity." * He always
presented himself at her levees at Monbijou, where she now
constantly resided. On entering her presence, he used to take
off his hat, and remain standing till she requested him to be
seated.

He also did her the justice to say that she had brought up
her children well, as far as the King had left them in her hands,
and he never accused her of having been, in any measure, the
cause of his misfortunes. An anecdote is related of him, which
shows the jealousy with which his filial reverence guarded his
mother's name from every approach to disrespect from others.
When, during his journey to receive the homage of his West-
phalian subjects, the fancy to tread for once on French ground
and see a French garrison, or, as some persons imagine, the idea
of an incognito visit to Paris, led him to pass the French fron-
tier and visit Strasbourg, under the name of the Count du
Four, the wife of the governor Marechal de Broglie, ignorant
of the rank of her guest, asked him if he had ever been at
Hanover ; he replied in the negative, but asked her if she had.
" Oh, yes," she said, " my father was the French Minister
there, and I knew the Princess Sophia Dorothea, now Queen
Dowager of Prussia ; she possessed so much amiability and
goodness, and so many virtues, that she would have been per-
fect, had it not been for a little of that pride from which the
great houses of Germany can never quite free themselves." The
King replied, " I beg to inform you, madam, that I have never

* Kugler.

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 207

heard the Queen Dowager of Prussia spoken of, save with the
most profound respect." " Oh, monsieur, she deserves it, there
is but this little tinge of the morgue Germanique"— - " I have just
observed to you, madam, that it is only in terms of the most
profound respect, and without any reserve, that Her Majesty has
been spoken of before me," interrupted Frederic, when fortu-
nately the return of the Governor broke off the conversation.

Of her ten children, the daughters were now all married, with
the exception of the two youngest princesses, Ulrica and Amelia,
who remained with their mother after their father's death.
Prince William was now in the first dawn of his manhood,
he was, says Bielefeld, " the handsomest man I ever saw, tall and
well proportioned, with brown hair and blue eyes." But his
education had been terribly neglected, for he having been his
father's favourite, the latter had kept him constantly with him,
both in the camp and in the sports of the field ; Prince William
improved himself much in this respect after his father's death,
but still he could never express himself with ease, and he was
always exceedingly shy when in company. He was a great
admirer of the fair sex, and was always over head and ears in
love with some fair damsel of the Court. At one time he caused
his mother much uneasiness by the violence of his passion for
her beautiful maid of honour, Laura von Pannewitz, who, f< tall
and tower-like, half Diana half Venus; naive and tender/'*
although she was by no means insensible to the attractions of
her princely lover, nevertheless relieved the fears of the Queen
by espousing the Baron von Voss, a man for whom she had no
inclination, in order to free herself from the addresses of Prince
William.

Prince Henry seems more to have resembled his elder brother
in character than either of the others, and Prince Ferdinand
was then a mere boy of ten years of age; they were both still
under the care of tutors.

Sophia Dorothea's dislike to her son's amiable consort ap-
* Thiebault.

208 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

pears to have remained in full force for several years after
Frederic II.'s accession to the throne had given Elizabeth Chris-
tina the first place in all questions of precedence, and thrown
Sophia Dorothea, as Queen Dowager, into the background.

She had no reason, however, to lament any loss of actual
power, in such matters as Frederic the Great allowed to come
under female direction : her audience chamber was quite as
much thronged as that of the reigning Queen, and the ambas-
sadors of foreign Courts would sooner have thought of neglecting
the claims of the latter to their homage, than those of the
Queen-mother.

It was to her house that Frederic paid the first visit on his
return from his campaigns ; and it was there also that he
appointed his Queen to meet him on these occasions. The
Queen Dowager, too, was always invited to Potsdam (the
King's general residence after his accession, until Sans-souci
was built) at least once in the year, whilst the reigning Queen
was sorely mortified at her own exclusion from these invitations.

Sophia Dorothea's name occurs in many incidental notices
after the decease of her husband. We find her in queenly array
of black velvet and diamonds, dignifying the wedding festival
of her son, Prince William, in 1742. Again* we observe her
glowing with maternal pride, and shedding tears of mater-
nal tenderness at the marriage and departure of her beau-
tiful daughter Ulrica, the future Queen of Sweden, in 1 744.
In far less dignified guise, she figures at Charlottenberg,
when during a great festival given by Frederic at that place in
1747, a fire broke out in the room adjoining her bed-room.
Bielefeld met her in the courtyard, which was filled with terrified
and bewildered maids of honour, courtiers and servants, in all
stages of undress, herself in deshabille, carried in a sedan-chair
by two soldiers, and attended by the Chamberlain Pollnitz, in
dressing-gown, slippers and nightcap. Her august presence
reminded the lively Baron of his own deficiency of clothing, at
the same time that it brought vividly to his memory that

SOPHIA DOROTHEA. 209

passage from Racine : " Moi, la fille, femme et soeur de votre
maitre I39

The two Queens remained in Berlin together during Fredericks
absence in the Silesian war, and rejoiced in common on his
triumphant return; after which time, with the exception of
occasional misunderstandings, they appear to have been on
tolerably friendly terms; and towards the close of the Queen
Mother's life, the gentle, unassuming character of her daughter-
in-law seems, at last, to have overcome the long-enduring pre-
judices of Sophia Dorothea, whom we find treating her with
affection and confidence.

A gradual and gentle decay appears to have rather warned
Sophia Dorothea of advancing old age, than of the approach of
death ; her son supped with her at Monbijou, on the night of
the 19th August, 1756, before going to join the army at the
commencement of the Seven Years' War. He visited her once
again after his first triumphant campaign in January, 1757.
His last visit on this occasion was, as before, paid to his mother
at Monbijou, and he parted from her for the last time, on the
thirteenth of that month.

After that event her health was not so materially worse as
to give cause for alarm. She wrote to her daughter Charlotte,
now Duchess of Brunswick Bevern, in June, " My health re-
mains much in the same state. I suffer always from great
weakness, although I do all I can to recover my strength ;
nevertheless, I remain very feeble. I see that I must arm my-
self with much patience." This letter reached the Duchess on
the 28th, the very day on which her mother tranquilly breathed
her last.

There is no reason to suppose that Formey's conjecture, that
the news of the disastrous battle of Kollin proved a " nail in
her coffin/' was true ; the news probably reached Berlin a little
subsequently to her decease. Her son received the sad intelli-
gence of his loss whilst still sunk in bitter contemplation of the
dreadful consequences of that defeat. This additional blow

210 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

went nigh to crush the small remains of hope which yet lurked
in his heart : he shut himself up in his tent, and refused to see
any one. In these moments of despondency, dark thoughts of
seeking oblivion to his anguish in a repose as cold and silent as
hers for whom he mourned, are said from time to time to have
crossed his mind, and to have been cherished by him, rather
than dismissed as fearful and dangerous guests.

The first communication in which he suffered his grief to find
vent was a letter to his sister the Margravine of Baireuth ;
and the expressions of which he makes use, show with how deep
a tenderness and veneration her memory was cherished by him,
and how terrible was the blank which her loss had left in his
heart. And, certainly no higher testimony can be paid to the
memory of a parent than such tributes of love and grief from
a man like Frederic, of whom those who knew him in later
days, doubted whether such a sentiment as that of affection
existed in his heart.

LIFE OF

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA,

OP BRUNSWICK BEVERN,

FOURTH QUEEN OF PRUSSIA.

desired that his wife should afford no occasion to be
spoken of, and Queen Elizabeth Christina fulfilled these con-
ditions entirely," says Thiebault, in his memoirs of his inter-
course with the great monarch of Prussia. The remark is just,
and equally so the commentary upon it — that she remained
thus unobtrusively in the background because it was her
Caesar's unexpressed wish, rather than because it was his de-
clared will that she should do so. The unloved wife of a man
whom she idolized, she bore with submissive sweetness and
Christian resignation the coldness of that isolated position,
which, like solitary imprisonment to an active mind, is produc-
tive of absolute torture to a person endowed with warm
affections.

Dwelling, as she did, with intense interest and affection upon
the thought of her husband and all that pertained to him, yet
she never intruded herself upon him, never even once set foot
within the monastic walls of Sans-souci; but quietly she em-
ployed her time in a round of instructive employment and
gentle beneficence, which brought down upon her the blessings
of all who became acquainted with the quiet benevolence, which
did not let her left hand know the doings of her right.

Her husband had united himself with her in a marriage,
which he confessedly regarded as the heavy price of his free-

p 2

212 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

dom.* This she knew, and she bore that lot — of all others the
most difficult to bear, the sense of being an incumbrance — with
a fortitude and humility which, to my mind, elevate this little-
known Princess to something not far short of a heroine.

We must now revert to the period of the enlargement of the
crown Prince at the time of his sister's marriage.

How entirely both Grumbkow and Seckendorf possessed the
key to the secret workings of Frederic William's character, and
how ruthlessly they used their power of alarming his consti-
tutional obstinacy, by the fear of an appearance of yielding to
any external influence, must have been abundantly manifest in
the course of the preceding narrative. Now, therefore, whilst as
usual acting as the blind tool of men, with whose astuteness his
own blunt simplicity of character had no chance of competition,
he undertook completely to vindicate his absolute independence
of action, by marrying his son, not to an English Princess,
which would have been highly prejudicial to the Austrian inte-
rests, but to the Empress's own niece — an idea which, of course,
had only been suggested to him by his own personal friendship
for her father, and not in the least by the artful imperial envoy,
and the worthless favourite in Austrian pay, to whom he submit-
ted all his most private thoughts with such childish confidence !

So Frederic William believed, and so accordingly he acted.

The Princess who was the object of this most unbiassed
selection, was the eldest daughter of Duke Ferdinand Albert of
Brunswick Bevern, who had married his cousin, Antoinette.
Amalie of Brunswick Blankenburg, sister of that Princess Eliza-
beth Christina, who, after so many conscientious scruples, had
at length embraced the Roman Catholic religion on her mar-
riage with the Archduke Charles, afterwards the Emperor
Charles VI. f

* "It should be remembered that I have been constrained to this marriage
whether I would or not, and that it is the price of my freedom." — Letter of Fred,
to Grumbkow. — See Preuss' s ' ' Jugend jahre. ' '

f This marriage took place at Barcelona. The Princess, in changing her re-
ligion, had yielded to the persuasions of her uncle, the Duke of Brunswick

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 213

There had been, at first, an idea in the Austrian councils, of
marrying the crown Prince of Prussia to the young Archduchess
Maria Theresa, but Frederic William was staunchly and con-
scientiously Protestant, and would never have listened to the
idea of his son's becoming a Roman Catholic ; besides, faithful
ally as he was of Austria, his easily-roused suspicion would
have taken alarm at the prospect of the alliance of his heir with
so near and so powerful a neighbour. Therefore the Empress's
niece and namesake, Elizabeth Christina of Brunswick Bevern,
was selected as a person to whom no such alarming appre-
hensions could apply.

The suggestion had been artfully made a considerable time
previously to Frederic William ; he mentioned the Princess of
Brunswick Bevern to the Queen, as has been stated, before his
quarrel with Hotham. It had not been allowed to die out of
his memory since ; he now proceeded to act upon it.

Shortly after the marriage of the Margravine of Baireuth, Sec-
kendorf was commissioned to broach the subject of his marriage
to the crown Prince. Three Princesses were proposed to him for
his nominal selection, but his subsequent letters show how little
freedom of choice was actually allowed him. "He is resolved
to marry/' writes the ambassador (19th June, 1731), " because
he sees that he cannot hope for entire freedom on any other
condition : he has decided for the Princess of Bevern, provided
that she be ni sotte ni degoutante" On the 4th of February
the ensuing year a letter from Frederic William announced to
the crown Prince, that it was the paternal pleasure that he
should take to wife the eldest Princess of Bevern, whom,
having examined into the "conduct and education of all the

Wolfenbuttel, the head of the house, who had told her that it was his intention
himself, on conscientious grounds, to become a Roman Catholic. When she found
that, after her marriage, he did not fulfil his engagement, she again became re-
morseful and uneasy, and her uncle performed his promise. Proposals of marriage
had before been made by the Archduke to the Princess Caroline of Anspach, but
she had declined to make the necessary change of religion, even with the chance
of the imperial crown in prospect.

214 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Princesses of the land," he had found to be " well brought
up, modest, and retiring, as women ought to be."

He further gives his " dear son Fritz " the information that
the Princess is " neither handsome nor ugly," and desires him
to inform the Queen of his engagement, Frederic immediately
communicated to his father his entire submission to his will in
this, as in all other things. At the same time, with a faint hope of
inducing Grumbkow to use his influence over the King, he was
writing to that treacherous favourite in terms of intimacy, and
even of friendship, to express his intense hope that his father
would not marry him to a fool, for report spoke slightingly of
the capacity of the Princess of Bevern. He says he would in-
finitely prefer a coquette, or even worse, to a blockhead. Again,
with deeper and more creditable feeling, he intreats Grumbkow
to induce his father, " as a Christian," to reflect on the evil
consequences and the sins caused by ill-assorted marriages.
" If there are any honest people left in the world," says he,
" let them endeavour to save me from the most perilous position
I have ever been placed in. Good God ! has not the King seen
enough of ill-assorted marriages in the case of my sis'ter of
Anspach and her husband, who hate each other like fire ? "

Again he writes, " They say she has a sister who at least has
common sense ; why prefer the eldest ? "

Nevertheless, despite all his passionate entreaties and remon-
strances (it is by no means certain that they ever reached his
father), the engagement for binding him to a woman whom he
had never seen, and against whom he entertained a most violent
prejudice, whether justly or unjustly founded, was ratified be-
tween the respective fathers. The Duke of Brunswick Bevern
was regarded by Frederic William with great esteem. He ex-
pressed his opinion that there was " no better man amongst all
the Kings and Princes of Europe;" and thus, forgetting the
manoeuvres he had himself put in practice, to obtain the object to
whom his inclination pointed at the period of his own marriage,
he disregarded the inclinations of the crown Prince altogether, and

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 215

married him, as the latter expressed it, " as if my father were
marrying for himself and not for me." He wrote to his sister,
the Margravine of Baireuth, who, with her husband was now
at Baireuth, " They are about to force me to marry a Princess
whom I do not know. They have extorted a promise from me
which has cost me much pain."

The Queen was excessively irritated at this second complete
overthrow of her plans for an English alliance. She set no
bounds either to her anger, or to the expression of it, constantly
speaking of the future crown Princess in the bitterest and most
contemptuous terms. Matters were not improved after the
introduction of the Princess of Brunswick Bevern to her bride-
groom and her mother-in-law, which took place shortly after-
wards, when she visited Berlin, accompanied by her father and
mother.

Elizabeth Christina was then seventeen ; she had but recently
recovered from the small-pox, and was still disfigured by the
marks of the spots. She had been brought up very privately
at her father's Court, and was as shy as any other country girl
would have been, on being brought into the midst of an assem-
blage of strangers, and paraded before the scrutinizing gaze of
the Queen's imposing majesty, the said majesty being very
much disposed to crush the young intruder, who either lisped
and stammered such incomprehensible replies to her cold com-
pliments, or else remained in embarrassed silence.

There was a grand ball given on the 10th of March, at which
the King publicly announced that the crown Prince and the
Princess Elizabeth Christina of Brunswick Bevern were be-
trothed. The Queen could not help herself; she could only be
ungracious to the last degree, and make no secret of the fact,
that she considered her future daughter-in-law a fool. She
also gave vent to her feelings by writing to the Marchioness of
Baireuth, "La Princesse est belle, mais sotte comme un pa-
nier." " I know not how my son will ever accommodate him-
self to the young guenuche" *

* Young ape.

216 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Perhaps the person who looked upon the poor young Princess
with the least unfavourable eyes was the crown Prince himself;
but he was cold and constrained in his manner towards her,
and she was terribly afraid of her future bridegroom.

In the beginning of April this visit, so trying to the prin-
cipal parties concerned, came to a conclusion, and the Princess
returned, gladly enough, to the paternal mansion.

The two fathers of the young couple seemed perfectly content
with the arrangement, and two other persons — Grumbkow and
Seckendorf — certainly had reason to be satisfied with the trium-
phant success of their schemes. — What did it matter that an
innocent girl was made the sacrifice to the interested views
of all parties ?

" I take her as the price of my freedom," said the Prince,
"but I can never love her." The King regarded her with
complacency, as the seal of his absolute mastery over the
unruly will of his son; the Austrian ambassador and the
Prussian minister as the cipher, of no weight save as to its
place in the account; whilst the Queen beheld in her the
odious stumbling-block which had overthrown the cherished
plans of years of anxious scheming.

This was but a painful prospect to meet the eyes of a timid,
youthful bride ; fortunate, indeed, was it, if the early percep-
tions of Elizabeth Christina were not sufficiently clear to allow
the whole terrible future to break upon her, in all its bleak
heartlessness, at once.

She was accompanied, on her return to her father's Court, by
Madame de Katsch,* an accomplished lady, who received the
onerous charge of forming the mind and manners of the future
Queen of Prussia. A first-rate dancing-master was also pro-
vided, by the care of Seckendorf, to reduce the really fine person
of the untrained and somewhat awkward girl, to some degree
of obedience to the rules of elegance of carriage and dignity
of deportment.

Whilst this needful process was going on with the bride-

* Widow of the severe judge Katsch. See above ; Life of Sophia Dorothea.

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 217

elect, and whilst she was still allowed to enjoy a measure, at
least, of freedom, and the society of her numerous brothers and
sisters— for she was the third child of a family of fourteen, the
crown Prince, as an earnest of the considerations for which he
had given his consent to take her, received the command of a
regiment and an establishment at Riippin from his father,
whilst 5000 imperial ducats found their way to the future
relative of the Empress, to relieve him from the most pressing
claims of his creditors.

To occupy his leisure at Riippin he made a garden, and built
a rustic temple ; as mentioned above also, he took pains in the
drilling and disciplining of his regiment, and as the surest road
to his father's favour, expended considerable sums in obtaining
tall recruits ; * and though he thus involved himself in fresh
expenses, which his own resources, even with the additions
which were sometimes supplied both from Austria and Russia,
were quite inadequate to defray, and though a most harassing
burden of debt was thus accumulated, still the chief end was
gained — his father was appeased, and absolutely gracious.

He corresponded likewise with his betrothed, although it is
true that his father found fault because the correspondence was
not lively enough, and Frederic confessed that he found it diffi-
cult to fill his page ; f gifts also passed between them, and
packages of the famous Brunswick sausages were despatched
from Salzdahlum to Ruppin, as a present from the Princess to
her intended lord !

When the Margravine of Baireuth returned to Berlin for the
first time, on a visit to her parents, of course the subject of the
marriage of her brother was foremost on the tapis; and she
describes her astonishment and pain at the manner in which
the Princess of Brunswick Bevern was spoken of by the Queen

* Frederic had no penchant for tall soldiers himself, neither did he imagine
them to be better suited for military purposes than men of ordinary stature. The
tall regiment was disbanded immediately after his father's death.

f Preuss, Letter of Frederic to Grumbkow.

218 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

and the Princess Charlotte at supper, in the presence not only
of Prince Frederic, but even of the domestics in attendance.

" Your brother is in despair," said the Queen. " The
Princess is une vraie bete — she answers every question by ( yes/
or ( no/ accompanied by a silly laugh, quifait mat au cceur"

The Princess Charlotte added some traits to this portrait,
which certainly did no credit to her own delicacy of feeling.
The Margravine observing her brother colour, and appear as if
the conversation displeased and wounded him, changed the
subject. After she had retired to her apartments he came to
her, and himself broached the subject of his marriage. " As
regards the Princess," said he, " I do not dislike her so much
as I pretend to do. I affect to find her intolerable, in order
that the King may better appreciate my obedience. She is
pretty, her complexion is of lilies and of roses, and her features
are delicate ; the general effect of her countenance is that of
beauty. She has no education, and her carriage is bad, but I
flatter myself that, when she is here, you will have the good-
ness to form her a little."

Yet once again a change had seemed about to come over the
face of affairs, when the English influence took for a time the
ascendant at Vienna, and consequent variations began to be
manifested by the ministerial compass at Berlin, in its set to
the magnetic pole at the imperial capital.

Despite the betrothal of the crown Prince and of his sister
Philippina Charlotte, a new proposition was made for marrying
the crown Prince to the Princess Amelia of England, and the
Princess Charlotte to the Prince of Wales ; whilst Prince Charles
of Brunswick was to receive the Princess Ann of England in-
stead of the bride before destined for him.

But Frederic William had pledged his word to his friend the
Duke of Brunswick, and, firm to his principles of honour, he
would not yield a tittle in this respect : the preparations for
the marriage therefore went on, and the day was fixed. The
King, the Queen, and the crown Prince set off towards the

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 219

dwelling of the bride a few days before that on which the im-
portant event was to take place. In due time they arrived at
Salzdahlum, or Salzthal. At that eleventh hour even, Secken-
dorf was charged to endeavour to shake the King's resolution,
and stop the marriage ; but the proposal was rejected with in-
dignation, and Frederic William afterwards reverted more than
once to the " infamy }} which his friend would have had him
commit at Salzthal.* The wits of England and Hanover
found plenty of scope for their satire in this marriage, and
Frederic William was so enraged at the reports which reached
him, that he would not allow a formal notification of his son's
marriage to be sent to London.

The marriage finally took place on the 12th of June, 1733.
Frederic is described by his sister to have affected to be in a
frightful temper, and to have scolded and stormed at his at-
tendants at least, in his father's presence. Von Hahnke's life
of Elizabeth Christina gives a detailed account of the ceremony,
and of the sermon which was preached by Mosheim on the
occasion ; but I omit the description, in order to return with
the King and Queen to Berlin.

The latter, her enforced duty fulfilled, gave full vent to her
spleen on her return. She told her daughter that, despite the
efforts of Madame le Katsch, the Princess was more " bete "
than ever, and that the Prince could not endure her, although
she allowed that at first sight she might make a pleasing
impression.

The King described her to the Margravine as " a good child,
but wants forming.-"

In a few days the subject of so much criticism, herself
arrived at Berlin, whither Frederick had preceded her. She
was received very cordially by her father-in-law, but she was
weary and shy, and heated and disordered by the journey; the
Margravine of Baireuth, remembering her promise to her

* "Seckendorf mich aus Leben bringt," said the King. " Inf amie begeben
machen, die Heirath zu Salzthal abzuandern." — "Journal Secret."

220 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PEUSSIA.

brother to befriend the young stranger, went with her to her
apartments, where Prince Frederic, in a speech which seems
to have frightened the poor child into a state of greater
bewilderment than before, introduced his sister, as one whose
advice he wished her to follow upon all occasions. The Mar-
gravine then offered herself to be her tire-woman, and arrange
the fair, naturally-curling locks which had been all unpowdered
and dishevelled by the journey. When Frederic saw his bride
receive all these kind attentions without so much as venturing
a word of thanks, or the slightest return of his sister's caresses,
he grew impatient, and exclaimed in most unbridegroom-like
terms, '* Peste soit de la bete ! Remerciez done ma soeur,"
which unceremonious adjuration produced from the startled girl,
as near an approach to her dancing-master's last lesson on the
curtsey, as the state of her nerves would admit at the moment.
The Margravine describes her at this time as tall, but not
graceful, with a dazzlingly fair complexion, relieved by a vivid
colour, large pale blue eyes, without much expression, and
mignon features, whose worst falling off was a bad set of teeth,
whilst the " tout ensemble of the face was so charming and so
infantine, that one might have imagined it to belong to a child
of twelve years old." And a mere child it indeed was, that
was thus placed in circumstances which rapidly enough de-
veloped her into womanhood, and endowed her at the same
time, like the Undine of her own country's story, with a
woman's heart, and all a woman's portion of love and sorrow.
There were not many festivities upon the occasion of the
entry into Berlin ; Frederic William's favourite German comedy
was the chief amusement provided, at which the ladies and
gentlemen stifled their yawns as well as they could, and dared
not vent their ill-humour at being obliged to attend. There
was a grand review also, and the party having to start at three
A.M., there was no time after supper to go to bed before dress-
ing for it ; when they arrived at the ground, they found a
dozen tents, each calculated to hold about five persons, pre-

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 221

pared for their accommodation ; and as the company had re-
quired eighty carriages to bring them, it may be supposed that
the crowding in these tents was rather dense, and the sun
being hot and no refreshments provided, the fatigue was
excessive. Another of the enjoyments on the occasion of the
marriage of the heir of Prussia, was a procession in open car-
riages, which only went at a foot-pace; the rain meanwhile
descended in torrents; and the ladies, thoroughly soaked of
course, having no accommodation for change of apparel,
appeared at the subsequent ball with their dresses clinging
around them in most ludicrous style. The Margravine gives a
full description of all these most lugubrious festivities.

The heirs of the Kurbrandenburg family had in former
times, as part of their apanage, commonly possessed a seat in
the Mark; Frederic William now revived this custom, by
bestowing upon his eldest son the estate of Rheinsberg, which
he had just purchased. Rheinsberg* is not far from the town
of Riippin. Watered by the little river Rhyn, it rises like a
green oasis, adorned with shadowy, graceful trees, out of the
midst of the sterile sands and impoverished vegetation of the
surrounding country, whilst horses of noble growth, smooth-
skinned oxen and fine-wooled sheep, mark the richer character
of the district. Here Frederic found the ruins of a castle,
whose walls were almost washed by the waters of the Grune-
rick Lake. He now set himself sedulously to work to repair
this edifice, and quickly, amidst the beech-woods which encircle
the lake, arose an enchanted palace, inhabited by a magician
whose fame was soon to spread through all lands. Into the
penetralia of this, his chosen abode, none but the sage philo-
sopher, the gifted poet, or the open-hearted and brilliant com-
panion, were ever admitted. Here at length, released from
all restriction, was Frederic free to follow the dictates of
that refined taste which had cost him so many trials in his
earlier years, and to indulge in that communion with men of
* For description see Forster and Preuss.

222 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

talent and of letters, which his mind had always craved. Here,
too, he re-commenced the formation of a library, the first
thousand volumes which he had collected having been sold at
the time of his imprisonment.

I quote Baron Bielefeld's description of this fairy palace. —
" The situation of the castle is beautiful ; the waters of a
large lake almost lave its very walls. On the further side of
this lake, a beautiful wood of oak and beech spreads like an
amphitheatre. The original castle consisted of the main build-
ing and one wing, at the end of which stood an old tower ; this
edifice and its position were well calculated to exhibit the taste
and genius of the crown Prince, and the talent of Knobelsdorf,
who is the director of the building. The main edifice has been
repaired and embellished by means of bay-windows, statues,
and other ornaments : a corresponding wing with a tower has
been added at the other end, and these two towers connected
by means of a row of columns : this erection has given to the
whole the form of a square. At the entrance is a bridge, orna-
mented with statues, which serve as lamp-bearers. The en-
trance to the court is through a fine gate, over which Knobels-
dorf has placed the inscription, ' Frederico tranquillitatem
colenti/ The interior of the castle is both splendid and taste-
ful : there is a profusion of gilding, which, however, has been
guided by the hand of taste. The Prince prefers soft colours,
on which account the furniture and hangings are either violet,
sky-blue, pale green, or flesh colour, ornamented with silver : a
hall, which will be the masterpiece of the castle is not yet com-
pleted ; it is to be panelled with marble, and adorned with large
mirrors framed with gilded bronze. The celebrated Pesne has
painted the ceiling, which represents the rising of the sun. On
one side appears retreating night, veiled in a dark mantle, and
attended by her sorrowful birds and by the Hours ; whilst on
the other are represented the morning star, in the form of
Venus, the white horses of the sun chariot, and Apollo flinging
his first beams. I hold this picture as symbolical, and as point-

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 223

ing to a perhaps not far distant period." * The same author
goes on to give a description of the then incomplete gardens,
•with the shady alleys leading to the Egyptian obelisk in the
centre ; the sheltered seats ; the temple of Bacchus, shrouded
with cypress, ivy and vine ; the pleasure boats for water parties
on the lake, and all the other means which the Prince had here
collected for the enjoyment and embellishment of life. But
what is the description of a dwelling without that of its prin-
cipal inhabitants ? Let us, therefore, hasten to supply the de-
ficiency from the plentiful materials which are left us on this
subject.

At the time of which we are speaking, Frederic, crown Prince
of Prussia, was about twenty-two years of age, and of strikingly-
prepossessing appearance : he was not tall, but perfectly well
made, and " rather delicate than slim ;" he wore his own wavy,
light-brown hair, the severing of whose curls at the stern com-
mand of his father, had, in his boyhood, cost him so many tears
that the compassionate hair-dresser had spared this natural orna-
ment as much as possible. His features, which bore the Hano-
verian stamp, were good ; but the eyes were the characteristic
part of the physiognomy; large, soft, blue and melting in their
ordinary expression, yet they could, at times, flash forth such
terrible flames as seemed to wither the rash or insolent offender
who had roused them. The peculiarly-piercing expression of these
wonderful eyes, which seemed at once to penetrate the character,
thoughts and wishes of the individual upon whom they were
bent, has been the subject of frequent remark by those who had
experienced their power. He was by no means unconscious of his
own personal advantages, and had no objection to enhance them
by an elegant and recherchee toilette ; his small delicate hands
and taper fingers lacked neither jewels, nor lace to set them off;
and he used in his youth to pride himself on the remark of his
dancing-master, that he had the smallest foot amongst his pupils.

* Baron Bielefeld's "Lettres Familieres sur Fred, le Grand et sa Ccur de
1738-1760."

224 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

There was then little in the appearance of the delicate and
somewhat effeminate-looking young man, to indicate the bound-
less energy and indomitable perseverance of the character that
lurked under that soft exterior, only gleaming forth at times
in the sudden wild-fire of the eye which now and then beto-
kened the unfathomed depths beneath. Few or none had an
idea of what capabilities were in the man, his father perhaps
less than any other person ; he used to say, " Fritzchen knows
nothing at all of affairs ; when all is at sixes and sevens, I shall
laugh in my grave."

Before his death, however, an inkling of the talent of his
son seems, from time to time, to have dawned upon, and filled his
mind with wondering surprise. Probably at this time Frederic
did not know the extent of his own powers ; these were the
halcyon days of his hitherto harassed youth ; his young genius
was but playfully trying its wings in fluttering over the flowers
that for the first time strewed its pathway, unconscious of the
sleeping fires within, which were to rush through all its pulses,
and bid it, on the first impulse, dart up straightway, like
a young eagle, to the sun.

The crown Princess had formed, perhaps, the nearest approxi-
mation to a correct estimate of her husband's powers; he had
dawned upon her newly-awakening intellect with all the re-
splendence of a young god, her expanding mind was filled with
boundless love and admiration for the man who, whilst he
awed her, had first awakened thought, feeling, and finally a deep,
silent, shamefaced and secret idolatry within her bosom.

Bielefeld's description of Elizabeth Christina in 1738, would
lead us to imagine that the efforts of Madame de Katsch and
the dancing-master had been crowned with triumphant success;
but perhaps we should be nearer the truth, in supposing that the
love for her husband, which now inspired her whole being, was
the agent that had taught her to lend to her natural attractions
the additional charm of elegance and grace, whilst it had ani-
mated her beauty with the magic of expression.

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 225

" The Princess/' says he, " is of noble stature ; I never saw
more symmetrical proportions ; her neck, hands and feet, might
serve as models for a painter; her hair is blond-cendre, and
shines like pearls when powdered ; her skin is very delicate, and
she has large blue eyes, which are soft, but yet full of life,
her glance is expressive. She has an open countenance, beau-
tiful eyebrows, a little nose, a pleasant mouth, a very pretty
chin; her whole countenance is expressive of gentleness and
goodness. All the Graces seem to have united to form this
Princess. Even the little negligences which one sometimes
perceives in her dress or posture are happy, and never at the
expense of good taste. This amiable Princess speaks little,
especially at table, but what she says is thoughtful and
womanly; and shows a cultivation which she has formed for
herself." Perhaps Bielefeld may have been a partial judge, for
he confesses to have been perfectly enchanted with the beauty
of the spot, and the charm of the society at Rheinsberg. Hav-
ing thus given a sketch of the principal inhabitants of that
place, let us also take a hasty glance at the individuals who
composed the rest of the social circle there.

There was the Hofmarschall -Wolden, with his pretty and
agreeable wife. There was the veteran Senning,* the old
mathematical tutor of the Prince, whom in his crippled state
he took home to live with him. Then there was the amiable
Chazot. And, Knoblesdorf, pensive but talented, who had left
the army at the call of art. There was the witty and friendly
Jordan, who, on the death of his wife, unable to bear the
familiar associations of home, had flung aside his ecclesiastical
garb, and fled to foreign lands to seek distraction from sad
thought, and at last, burying his softened grief deep in his
heart, had returned to be " a favourite with all the Court " at
Rheinsberg. But, above all, there was the Prince's " Csesarion" f
Kaiserling, who, clad in robe de chambre, and gun on shoulder,

* Senning had lost a leg in the wars in Flanders.

f Csesarion was the name by which Kaiserling was admitted into the ''Order

226 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

" rushes in like a hurricane/* talks a dozen different lan-
guages in the same conversation, with the same fluency,
and knows everything better than anybody else, from state
politics, mathematics, painting, and architecture, down to
horses, dogs, fashions in dress, and the last new step in the
Rigodon.

Then, beside these and other habitual residents, such as
Graun, the chapel-master ; * Pesne, the painter ; f Benda, the
first violinist in Europe; and frequently Quanz, the flute-
player, and other musical celebrities, — brilliant strangers from
all parts of the world frequently glittered for a time amidst the
select coterie of " Fredericks Rest." But we must by no means
omit the ladies who formed so important a part in the attrac-
tions of this little Court.

Beside Frau von Wolden, and the high-minded and gentle
Madame de Katsch, by whom her royal pupil is now " nearly
idolized on account of that goodness and mildness which in her
high position seem doubly fair,"J there is Fraulein von
Schack, who is lively and amiable, but no beauty, though pos-
sessed of a well-formed hand and a very pretty foot; and
though it be treachery to the sex, we quote the gallant Baron's
comment on the opportunities which he had enjoyed of ascer-
taining the fact : — " The ladies know, how to make the most of
their advantages, and if they had but a pretty Ohrlappchen^
they would contrive to show it," and often did Fraulein
von SchacFs pretty foot peep from beneath the long petticoat
then the mode.

Fraulein von Walmoden, the second maid of honour, tall,
fair-haired, shapely, and handsome, but without much character,

of Bayard," founded by Frederic and his friends ; he is mentioned frequently by
that name in the correspondence with Voltaire, whom he visited at Cirey. The
crown Prince also called him the "swan of Mitau" (his birthplace).

* The composer of the " Passion."

t Antoine Pesne, a portrait- painter. The best portrait of Frederic the Great
is by him.

£ Bielefeld. § Lobe of the ear.

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 227

does her ornamental part on the stage very well, and occasionally
inspires a languid flame in the bosom of some inflammable
courtier, who is more supremely idle than usual.

Beside the crown Princess's Oberhofmeisterin and maids of
honour, sundry of the fairest ladies in Berlin (some of whom
were supposed to possess more than common attractions for the
crown Prince) were no unfrequent visitors at Rheinsberg.
Amongst these were the Frau von Morian, who figures as " le
Tourbillon " in his verses ; Frau von Brandt, who had a greater
taste for intrigue than was either safe or commendable, and
who, in furtherance of her foolish and ambitious hopes that
Prince Henry's boyish penchant for her sister might decoy him
into a marriage in her family, would have vilely sold her hus-
band's honour and her own fair fame ; and several other ladies,
whose visits were of less questionable purport.

For the occupations and amusements of the life at Rheinsberg
I must again quote from Baron Bielefeld's*" enthusiastic descrip-
tion of the way in which he passed his time during his sojourn
there.

" All who live in the castle," says he, <c enjoy the most uncon-
strained freedom. The crown Prince and Princess are only
visible at table, at balls, concerts, or other fetes in which they
can participate. Time, which, to the thinking man, is so pre-
cious, yet, to the superficial, seems so long, is not here passed
in sleeping till a mid-day breakfast; in mollifying angry
creditors ; in weighty and secret conferences with tailors and
mantua-makers ; or in the toilette and useless chat in ante-cham-
bers. Every one thinks, reads, draws, writes, plays an instru-
ment, amuses or employs himself in his apartment till dinner ;

* Bielefeld became known to Frederic on the occasion of the latter' s reception
into the order of Freemasons. He was of the burger class, and was an inhabitant
of Hamburg. On Frederic's accession he was sent on a diplomatic mission to
England ; he gives an amusing account of the pleasures of the then fashionable
gardens of Vauxhall, and speaks with astonishment of the ferocious character of
the amusements, such as bull and bear-baiting, cock-fighting, &c., to which the
otherwise humane English nation was then addicted.

Q 2

228 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

then each one dresses himself well and carefully, but without
ostentation or expense, and goes to the eating-room. All the
employments of the crown Prince display the man of taste.
His conversation at table is inimitable; he speaks much and
well ; it seems as if no subject were foreign to him ; and his
remarks on all subjects are novel and original. His wit is like
the never-failing fire of Vesta.* He tolerates difference of
opinion, and understands the art of drawing out the brilliancy
of others, by affording occasion for the utterance of some jeu
& esprit, or happy thought. He jests and ridicules, yet without
bitterness, and without taking a witty reply amiss.

" Do not think the nimbus which surrounds the crown Prince
has dazzled me. Were he merely a private man, I would will-
ingly go miles on foot, if I could thereby ensure the pleasure
of his society.

" After dinner the gentlemen visit the ladies' apartment, to
take coffee; all assemble, and chat together pleasantly. The
Prince and Princess take coffee in their own apartment.
The evening is dedicated to music; the Prince has a concert
in his saloon, to which it is a great honour to be invited/'

We find in the same agreeable author many such descriptions
of days of intellectual enjoyment and nights of festivity; of
gay balls, in which the Prince doffed the uniform in which, as
an officer in his father's army, it was the best policy to appear,
and arrayed in " pale green silk, richly-embroidered with silver,
with broad silver Brandenburgs and tassels, and attended by a
train of cavaliers, similarly but less splendidly attired," joined
the dancers, and displayed more "lightness and grace" than
any other gentleman present, whilst a throng of the fairest and
noblest of the Prussian ladies were emulous of the distinction
of his hand for the set ; and though all were richly dressed,
and all looked to their best advantage in the soft warm light of
the ball-room, "yet the crown Princess appeared the sun of
all this glittering firmament of stars."

* This comparison is not altogether appropriate to the subject of Frederic's wit.

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 229

Sometimes, though rarely, scenes of more boisterous gaiety
took the place of the refined amusements of Rheinsberg. One
more quotation from Bielefeld, and we must quit the green
shades and luxurious saloons of this pleasant retreat.

" I lead a truly ravishing life here. A royal table, godlike
wines, heavenly music, delicious walks in the gardens and
woods, water excursions, the magic of art and science, pleasant
intercourse — all in this fairy palace unites to embellish life.
Yet as nothing on earth is perfect, a drop of sadness mingles in
my cup. I must prepare you soon to see me in Hamburg with
a couple of great scars upon my forehead, one eye blue and the
other extinguished, and a cheek like a rainbow. I have to
thank an unlucky Bacchusfest for these adornments. About a
fortnight ago the Prince was unusually cheerful at table, a few
glasses of champagne had set our wits in motion. The Prince
thought that this little elevation did us no harm, and said we
would take up the session again in the evening where we had left
off at mid-day. Towards evening I was invited to the concert.
At the conclusion, the Prince told me to go to the Princess till her
party should be at an end ; after that, said he, ' We will seat
ourselves at table, and drink till the candles are burnt out/ I
took the threat for jest, as I knew the Prince was not fond of
pleasures of this sort ; but when I came to the Princess, she
laughed, and assured me to the contrary, and was of opinion
that this time I should not escape my fate. Indeed, scarcely
had we seated ourselves at supper, when the Prince proposed
many toasts, all of which it was necessary to pledge. The
exhilaration increased from moment to moment. The ladies
took part in it — all restraint was at an end. Some of the
gentlemen went out to breathe the fresh air. I was of the
number. When I went out I was tolerably steady, but the air
somewhat clouded my senses. A great glass of water stood
before me on the table. During my absence, the Princess had
caused it to be changed for Sillery champagne from which
the foam had been blown away. I now no longer well knew what

230 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

I drank ; I mixed wine with wine. In order completely to give
me what was lacking, the Prince called me to seat myself
beside him, and made me empty one glass of Lunelle after
another. Every one else was in a similar condition. We
overwhelmed the ladies with compliments and tenderness.
At last the crown Princess, either by accident or intention,
broke a glass. This was the signal for the most extravagant
delight. The act seemed to us worthy of imitation ; in a
moment all the glasses flew into every corner of the hall, and
crystal, porcelain, cups, mirrors, candlesticks and table service
were broken into a thousand fragments. In the midst of this
horror of desolation the Prince was the only one who looked
upon the ruins with a serene, untroubled eye. When, however,
the jubilation took the form of a perfect tumult, he withdrew
to his room. The Princess disappeared at the same moment.
I was so unfortunate as not to find a servant to take compassion
on my helplessness. As I groped along, I came to the head of
the great staircase, and fell from the top to the bottom, where
I remained lying insensible on the lowest step. I should pro-
bably have died, had not an old female servant proved my
guardian angel. She came accidentally to the spot, and took
me in the dark for the great yard-dog. She greeted me with a
not very complimentary name, and gave me a hearty kick.
When, however, she discovered that I was a man, and a young
cavalier of the Court, she opened her heart to milder feelings,
and ran for help. My people came and carried me to bed and
fetched a doctor, who opened a vein, bound up my wounds, and
at last brought me to myself. In the morning they talked of
trepanning ; but this alarm was unfounded. I was only obliged
to keep my bed for a fortnight, during which time the Prince
was so gracious as to visit me daily, and do all he could towards
my restoration. The next morning after my mishap the whole
castle was mortally ill. Neither the Prince nor any of his
gentlemen could make themselves visible, and at dinner the
Princess found herself at table without a single courtier in

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 231

attendance. This day, which fortunately has few brethren, will
be long held in remembrance in Kheinsberg."

For all comment on this scene, let me remind my readers
that since it took place, in 1738, somewhat more than a hundred
years have elapsed ; yet that a much shorter periodhas sufficed
to bring society to a pitch of refinement which looks back upon
such scenes with amazement, since even England, in the early
days of the nineteenth century, might furnish episodes not
altogether dissimilar to the above-described bacchanalian
festival at the Court of the crown Prince and Princess of
Prussia.

Seldom, indeed, did similar occurrences break into the
classic retirement of Prince Frederic at Rheinsberg.* As
Bielefeld states, his mornings were spent in the solitude of his
own apartments, generally in his library, which was fitted up in
one of the above-mentioned towers, the windows of which over-
looked the garden and the lake ; no one then knew the manner
in which he occupied these precious hours of quiet, but it was
afterwards discovered that this was the time wherein he luxu-
riated in the correspondence which he had commenced with
Suhm, D'Argens, Wolff, Rollin, and other men of talent
taste and learning ; but above all with Voltaire. His admira-
tion for the genius of this author amounted at that time almost
to deification; Voltaire's portrait hung above his works in
Frederic's library, that he might always be reminded of him.

To the practice of the flute, too, he devoted much time, and
much dry labour to the theoretical study of music ; his execu-
tion on the above-named instrument was that of a master ; he
never, it is true, acquired much brilliancy in the fingering of
rapid passages, and his accompaniment had to humour him in

* He used generally to date his letters " Remusberg." In a letter to Voltaire,
dated "Remusberg, April 7th," (1738,) he gives as a reason for this, a tradition
that Remus, to escape the anger of his brother Romulus, fled towards the northern
provinces of Germany, and there founded a castle, which, certain investigators
were of opinion, had formerly occupied the site of Rheinsberg.

232 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

these parts ; but his adagios were so exquisite that they seldom
failed to draw tears from those of his audience who had a soul
for music.*

. I linger perhaps too long over the sunny days of Rheinsberg,
but this was the happiest period of Elizabeth Christina's life.
She said herself, " I have never had such happy days as those
I have spent here/' The man for whom she would have cheer-
fully sacrificed her life, and did sacrifice her happiness, at least
now lived with her as his wife.f He treated her with the
greatest respect and consideration — sometimes she might almost
persuade herself with affection. He openly avowed that he ad-
mired her person ; " that he must be the most unreasonable of
men if he did not truly esteem her, for that she was of a re-
markably gentle temper ;" " that no one could be more docile ; "
that " she was complaisant to excess, forestalling even his wishes
in all that could give him pleasure." The idea that, so soon
as the crown Prince should become king, he would divorce his
gentle consort, began to lose ground amongst the courtiers :
Schulenberg,J who was supposed to be in his confidence, did
nothing but burst into inexhaustible fits of laughter when the
subject was mentioned to him. The crown Princess's "influ-
ence'^ began to be talked of. <e She becomes powerful," || says
Seckendorf, on his return from Vienna. "The Prince loves
her ;" " he writes to her during short absences ; he has showed
her letters as specimens of good sense."

And if in Elizabeth Christina's own heart, there was an
aching consciousness of the vast distinction that lay between
this chill almost of affection, and its warm reality, she sedulously
endeavoured to hide that consciousness from the searching eyes
of all that were around her. If the bitter tears did rise, when

* See Bielefeld and others.

•j- The crown Prince and Princess ' ' lived together as man and wife for more
than ten years." — Preitss, "Lebens Geschichte," Von Hahnke.

£ Seckendorf. § Ibid.

|| Ibid. II a montre ses lettres a Schulenburg en disant, "Elle a pourtant de
bon sens."

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 233

her ear failed to catch that tender inflection of her husband's
voice for which it had been wistfully listening so long, she forced
them down again to their secret fount within her heart, and co-
vered the pain by a smile. She shut her eyes wilfully to all that
went on between the crown Prince and the ladies Von Morian,
Von Brandt and others, and her ears to the tales that malice
would have poured into them. At the same time she occupied
herself in the cultivation of her mind, the storing of which had
been neglected in her youth ; for, at her father's Court, the
chief instruction which the young Princes and Princesses re-
ceived, was derived from listening to the theological discussions
of certain learned divines, who met there upon fixed days for
the purpose of such discourse, in which both the parents of

Elizabeth Christina were interested.* She read with care and

•*»

selection, and reflected with accuracy upon what she read. La
Croze helped her in her selection and study of the best French
authors. She read Bayle attentively, because that author was
a favourite with her husband, and it gave her pleasure to trace
the ideas which communicated pleasure to him.f When men
of celebrity visited the Court of Rheinsberg she was an earnest,
though a silent listener to their discourse. She quietly formed
her own judgment of their characters, and the instinct of her
truthful simplicity seldom led her far astray. Her opinions
of men and things were never intruded, but they existed none
the less strongly in her own mind, and sometimes found a quiet
utterance in her moments of social relaxation with Madame de
Katsch or her sister, when the latter became Princess of
Prussia.

We find that Elizabeth Christina liked and esteemed Lord
Baltimore when he visited Berlin in 1739; that she admired
Algarotti, but did not accord him the esteem with which she
honoured the Englishman ; but that, despite his talents, which

* Von Hahnke.

f It used to be said that the Crown Prince and Princess knew Bayle thoroughly,
because she studied the parts which had little interest for him, and vice versa.

234 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

she could not but admire, she could not endure Voltaire.* The
crown Princess also occupied part of her leisure in the use of
her pencil. We find, in one of Frederic's letters to his father
at this period, that et My wife is at work on a portrait " for
" my allergnddigste father ; " and again we have allusions to
the progress of the portrait.

Nor was Elizabeth Christina by any means destitute of loving
hearts to appreciate her trials and her efforts ; her own family
were warmly attached to her, and her father writes to her that
her " conduct is angelic.1" With her father-in-law also, she
was high in favour, although it was a great disappointment to
him that Fritz should have no heir j she was the mediatrix upon
whom Frederic relied in the little misunderstandings which
sometimes still arose between him and his father. A constant
correspondence was now carried on between Rheinsberg and
Postdam, Wusterhausen or Berlin, according to the King's
existing place of residence, both by the crown Prince and the
Princess. Frequent presents of delicacies from the Prince's
garden or kitchen at Rheinsberg were most graciously accepted
by his Majesty. A pasty, or even a fat calf, some Muskat-
wine, some grapes or melons, some plover's eggs, some lobsters,
oysters, or other sea-fish, (for, though Frederic William was
fond of such dainties, he could seldom induce himself to be
extravagant enough to indulge in them at his own expense,)
not unfrequently brought an addition to the usual letter of
acknowledgment in the King's own handwriting, such as the

* "My Lord Baltimore is an estimable man ; he has my approbation. Madame
de Wolden has made a conquest of him. Algarotti is very amusing, and has much
knowledge, but what does not please me, is, that he has no religion, and ridicules
all that relates to it ; he has not my approbation so much as my lord." — Letter of
Eliz. Christina to her brother Prince Ferdinand.

Denina says Voltaire disgusted her by his "mechancetes" and his "vilainies,"
as much as he charmed her by his talents. — See Von Hahnke's " Leben der
Kb'nigino Eliz. Christ."

Nevertheless, when he read his tragedies before the two Queens, during his first
visit to Berlin in 1740, both ladies paid the tribute of their tears to the pathos of
his verse.

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 235

following:: — "Ich danke, werde seine Gesundheit trinken." *
In return, the Prince acknowledges presents of pheasants, par-
tridges and swans from his father. In 1735 he says, " My wife
is much pleased with the beautiful present (a snuff-box) which
my most gracious father has sent her/'

In the autumn of that year, a great family misfortune befell
Elizabeth Christina, in the death of her father. She was at
Berlin at the time, and Frederic knowing the trial which the
loss would prove to her, and doubtless, knowing also that con-
solation from his lips would possess more of balm for her grief
than from those of any other person, writes to the King from
Riippin, 7th Sept., 1735. " I have received the sad intelligence
of the death of my father-in-law; I believe my wife will be
much distressed at it; would my most gracious father allow
me to come to Berlin to comfort her ?"

We have already commented upon the principal public events
which took place between the marriage of Frederic and the
death of his father, it is needless therefore to revert to them
here. The good understanding which had began to subsist
between the King and his successor, amounted, towards the
close of the former's life, to a feeling of sincere cordiality, oc-
casionally ruffled a little, it is true, by the King's constitutional
tendency to suspicion. Yet the real affection and distress
manifested by the crown Prince during the dreadful illness
from which Frederic William suffered, as has been stated, on his
return from the campaign on the Rhine, in 1 734, did much
towards a perfect reconciliation. Seckendorf writes on this occa-
sion f — " The Prince Royal is truly touched by the situation of
the King, has his eyes always full of water, and has wept his
eyes out of his head ; has refined to contrive a comfortable bed
for the King ; will not leave Potsdam ; the King has forced
him to do so ; may not come again before Saturday afternoon ;

* I thank him, will drink his health.

f1 4th Oct. Le Prince Royal est veritablement attendri par la situation du roi :
hat die Augen immer voll Wasser, und hat die Augen ganz aus dem Kopf ge-

236 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

says I would give an arm to prolong the King's life twenty
years, if he would let me live according to my fancy."

Surely there was but little of the heartlessness with which so
many writers have charged Frederic, in the man who "weeps
his eyes out of his head" at witnessing the sufferings of the
sick father whom he is to succeed, and who employs his great
intellect in " refining," to provide him such a bed as may
relieve those sufferings ?

After Frederic William's recovery from this attack, he visited
the crown Prince and Princess at Rheinsberg; he was enter-
tained with great ceremony, and before taking leave he ex-
pressed to his daughter-in-law his gracious satisfaction both with
his hosts and entertainment, though a somewhat disagreeable
idea of the " expense" of his son's luxurious little abode does
seem to have crossed his mind ; but Fritzchen's regiment was
in first-rate order, and splendidly disciplined and accoutred ;
and when, rather with the hope of catching the Prince's dili-
gence napping in this respect, the King set off in the middle
of the night to be at Riippin by daybreak, whom should
he behold, on entering the parade-ground prepared to find no
one stirring, but Fritzchen himself, exercising his very finest
soldiers in the very finest style. It is rumoured that a friendly
hand had forewarned him of the intended visit ; nevertheless,
this incident warmed Frederic William's heart towards his son,
perhaps still more than the latter's tenderness during his
illness; he even began to think of allowing him an extra
supply for his expenditure, and not before it was wanted did
this reinforcement arrive, for the enlistment of tall recruits, &c.
had terribly exhausted Frederic's purse, and he was in great
perplexity for money; he confessed to Manteufel, who then

weint, hat raffinirt, um dem Konig ein commodes Belt zu schaffen ; hat von
Potsdam nicht weggehen wollen ; le roi 1'y a force : soil erst Sonnabends Nach-
mittag wieder kommen ; dit, " Je donnerai un bras pour faire prolonger sa vie de
vingt ans, pourvu que le roi me fasse vivre a ma fantaisie." — Seckendorfs
"Journal Secret."

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 237

enjoyed a good deal of his confidence — and betrayed it,
that he sometimes had not a crown in his pocket ; that
he was obliged to spend as much as fifty thousand crowns
a year in presents to the King's immediate servants, to
secure their good offices with his father. " If I die," said
he, "those who survive me must pay my debts, which will
make them weep in good earnest."* In the year 1736 a
misunderstanding with the King seems to have arisen on this
account, for Seckendorf writes that ' Junior ' f " a le coeur
ulcere contre le Roi." Frederic's health also was at this time
in a very precarious state; the same author says, "Biberius
(Grumbkow) does not think Junior will survive Vitellius (the
King), but that pessimus Wilhelmus (Prince William) will suc-
ceed some day." The terrible headaches, accompanied by
vomiting, from which he suffered at that time, appear to have
given serious grounds for the idea, and the Prince began him-
self to think that there might be some truth in the prophecy
concerning Frederic William's successor contained in the
" Vaticinium leninense." J He appears also to have had severa
attacks of intermittent fever, at intervals, during the ensuing
years.

But despite any slight occasional differences between the
King and the crown Prince, a considerable amount of real
confidence, esteem and affection seems by degrees to have
grown up, and always, henceforward, to have subsisted un-
shaken between the father and son, until the death of the
former. It is pleasant to trace the gradual increase of these
mutual sentiments in their intercourse. As Frederic's judg-
ment matured, the salutary results of his father's really wise
measures and administration, filled him with respect for the
man whom he had, naturally, hitherto regarded as little bette

* Seckendorf.

f The Crown Prince's soubriquet in Seckendorf s "Journal Secret."
J A Latin doggrel, composed by a monk named Hermann, of Lenyn, containing
a sort of prophetic history of the kings of Prussia.

238 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

than an arbitrary tyrant. Speaking of his father, he thus
writes to a friend, " All that I see praiseworthy (in him) fills
me with an inward delight which I can scarcely conceal ; I feel
the emotions of filial love doubled within me, when I observe
such wise, such true views in the author of my existence."
Frederic William likewise, on his side, began to conceive, that
possibly the science and philosophy for which his son, who, he
had discovered, was certainly no fool, had such a reverence,
might deserve a little more consideration than he had hitherto
bestowed upon them ; he spoke approvingly of their cultiva-
tion, and even, — a crowning mark of his respect for his son's
opinion, began to study Wolff himself ! " The crown Prince
writes upon this occasion : " The novelties of the day are,
that the King read's Wolff's philosophy for three hours daily ;
wherefore God be praised ! We have indeed arrived at a
triumph of wisdom.*

Towards the end of 1739, the King's shattered health once
more entirely gave way ; his complaint, water on the chest,
gained ground rapidly ; he rallied again in the beginning of
the year 1740, but it was only for a time. The crown Prince,
had offended him involuntarily, and was in a sort of disgrace at
Rheinsberg. On the 26th of May, he was sent for by the
Queen, who added to her message however, the injunction,
that he should appear to have come from a mere impulse of
affection, and not with the idea of finding his father worse.
The Prince started in all haste ; but, contrary to expectation,
his father was slightly better on his arrival. He had ordered
Bielefeld to remain at Rheinsberg, to attend the Princess during
his absence, and, consequently, we have his description of the
anxiety and suspense which prevailed there, during the time
which elapsed before the King's death ; for it was known that
he could not survive, and that his end was hourly expected.
The rumble of every waggon that passed over the wooden
bridge leading from the high road, was construed into the
* Kiigler, " Q-eschichte Fried, des Grossen."

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 239

rattle of the wheels of a carriage, every ox or ass seen in the
distance was ennobled into the horse of the Prince's courier,
and a general rush was made to the windows.

The crown Princess was the only person who preserved a
constant equanimity, or " at least the external appearance of it"
" Five intolerable days passed in this manner, we thought a new
Joshua had made the sun stand still. On the evening of Friday
the 31st, we were all sitting together at cards, when the first
gentleman of the chamber entered, with a great letter sealed
with black : we thought that the King was certainly dead, and
all threw down our cards, the game was now despised. Brand
rose, took his hat, and said, " I am the first to call the Princess
Queen, and I will pronounce the word ' Majesty 3 with becoming
unction. We slowly approached the open door of the cabinet
where the Princess was also engaged at cards. She was reading
her letter, but looked up immediately on our entrance, and
asked, surprised, why we had left our game ? We stood ashamed ;
she smiled at our perplexity. At supper we joked together,
and congratulated ourselves that the King did not know our
sensations ; finally we all became very cheerful, and the Prin-
cess also, till she rose towards midnight, and every one retired
to his room."

About two o' clock the Baron was roused by Knobelsdorf, who
came to say that the King was dead. He expressed some in-
credulity, but Knobelsdorf assured him " that there was no mis-
take this time, for Wylich had come to bring the Princess a
message, and that Jordan* had received his orders to embalm the
King, and you know that no one who comes under his hands
returns to life again." When a light was brought Bielefeld
jumped out of bed, and began picking up some small change
which his friend had knocked off the table in the dark. " Don't
stay there picking up halfpence/' said Knobelsdorf, " when
ducats will soon shower upon us." On entering the Princess's
ante-room, Bielefeld found Baron Wylich surrounded by the
* The royal embalmer.

240 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Princess's ladies, and recounting to them the last scenes of the
King's life. He had brought directions for the new Queen to
follow her husband to Berlin, whither he was going immediately.
There was a discussion which of the ladies should rouse Eliza-
beth Christina from her slumbers, to inform her of her new ac-
cession of dignity ; at length Madame de Katsch commissioned
the Demoiselle von Bortefeld, the first lady of the bedchamber,
to do so. " She stepped into the chamber of the sleeping
Queen, and softly undrew the curtains ; the Princess asked what
was the cause of the disturbance. " Forgive me, your Majesty,^

that I come so early, but }> " Why do you call me ' your

Majesty ?' are you dreaming ?" " No, your Majesty ; but Baron
Wylich is come with intelligence of the King's death." Madame
von Katsch then entered, and presented a sedative draught,
whilst she greeted the new Queen by her title. In about half-
an-hour the Queen appeared in a black and white dressing-
gown; I thought I had never seen her look so beautiful before;
we all tendered her our short, but hearty congratulations." It
was agreed that the young Queen and her attendants should not
set off for Berlin till after breakfast, as it was necessary to send
intelligence on before, eighty horses being required at every
station, and these relays being difficult to obtain owing to the
scarcity of the preceding winter, which had impoverished the
peasants who furnished them. At that breakfast " the cook
surpassed himself." Madame de Katsch told Bielefeld to pro-
pose the health of the new Queen, but his feelings overcame
him, and he could "only stammer a few words" of congratula-
tion to the young mistress on whom he looked with so much re-
spectful attachment ; the Queen, too, was moved, and assured
her kindly attendants of her continued friendship.

The King had taken up his residence unexpectedly at Char-
lottenburg. When Bielefeld saw him he appeared to be in a
very depressed state. He replied to the Baron's congratula-
tions by saying, " You do not know what I have lost in my
father." Bielefeld replied that the gain of a kingdom might

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 241

make up for heavy losses. Frederic smiled faintly, but did not
reply.

And now on every tongue trembled the unuttered question —
Would King Frederic divorce his young Queen ? He had
avowed that his marriage was the price of his freedom. Now
that he was his own master,, would he not hasten to dissolve it ?
This question was soon set at rest. On the first public day he
presented Elizabeth Christina to the assembled Court with the
words, "I present you your Queen." Some accounts relate
that he embraced and kissed her very tenderly on this occasion ;
and a letter has been published as having been sent by him to
his wife, stating that he had indeed married her compulsorily,
but that her character and conduct had won his affection and
esteem, and that he called upon her with joy to share his king-
dom. However this might be, Elizabeth Christina was now
formally recognised as Queen of Prussia ; but, alas ! she saw
herself at the same time divested of the only realm she coveted,
that of the heart of her husband, whilst before her lay the
blank and dreary prospect of a widowed life and an empty title.

There was a general feeling of disappointment on the accession
of Frederic; he did not do anything that any one expected
of him : his friends expected to be rained on by a golden shower
— and very moderate appointments marked his sense of their
merits and services ; his enemies expected disgrace and resent-
ment— and he behaved as if he had no enemies ; the covetous
expected to extort office and riches from his inexperience — and
they were rebuffed with a polished but cutting rebuke ; his
mother thought to rule — and he sported, gently indeed, but
unmistakably, with her ambition. Every one had some charge
against him : he was " avaricious," he was te ungrateful," " sus-
picious," " revengeful," " capricious," &c. &c. ; the Queen
was required to employ her gentle arts as peacemaker in the
family and Court.

The most incomprehensible part of Fredericks conduct, how-
ever, was his behaviour towards those persons who had befriended

MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

him during his imprisonment, and who had even suffered on his
account. The Von Wrechs were in a kind of disgrace during
the whole of his reign, and the debt he had contracted to them
while at Kiistrin remained unliquidated after his accession.
Doris Hitter, too, was allowed to remain in obscurity. Histo-
rians have endeavoured to account for this mystery in various
ways; some have apologised for Frederic's apparent ingratitude
by alleging that his strict adherence to the laws of his country
caused him to repudiate, as king, the debts which he had ille-
gally contracted as crown Prince.* But this is villainous sophistry
to excuse the non-payment of a debt ; and as yet, at least, he
had not wholly sacrificed principle to interest and ambition, nor
offered up his human heart at the shrine of deified reason and
philosophy.

In Frederic's character there were elements, apparent enough
in his youth, which, had they only been duly wrought out in his
education, might have led to a far truer greatness than that
which he attained. But his father had no mental gauge by
which to appreciate his son's qualities ; and his tyrannical
injustice, though endured with a degree of filial forbearance
that is astonishing and admirable, threw the young man back
on himself, and fostered his inherent selfishness until it became
a dominant passion. t His favourite tutor Duhan, also, who
had most influence over him, was unfortunately lax in his
Christianity ; Frederic's matured intellect, great as it was in
some respects, was all insufficient by its own unaided " search-
ing to find out God/' and therefore, instead of becoming the
noble Christian man and hero that he might have been, he
contented himself with being the paltry attempt at a heathen phi-

* His father had made a law at, or, about the time of his son's arrest, to pro-
hibit the lending of money to any of the Princes Royal, and to declare null all
debts already so contracted.

•f* A striking change was noticed even in his appearance, after Katt's execution ;
his nature seemed to become harder all at once. Hille wrote to Grumbkow, —
"June 5th, 1731. Your Excellency will find him greatly altered ; his step is
firm and easy. I no longer remark that air de marquis which was formerly
apparent in his manner."

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 213

losopher which he really was — a character whose pitiful mean-
ness provokes our disgust, almost at the very moment when its
greatness is exciting our admiration.

The motive, then, of his strange conduct towards some of
those persons who had formerly been his friends, never has
been, and probably never will be, satisfactorily explained. There
had been an intrigue between him and the young Fran von
Wrech. Possibly the judgment of his riper years may have
questioned the views of the family in not discouraging his
advances to her. Nevertheless, even in this case, the injustice
of leaving undischarged a debt so contracted, and which cer-
tainly should have been binding upon a man of honour, must
still rest upon Frederic's memory.

He seemed, indeed, after his accession, to wish to bury this
portion of his existence altogether in oblivion. General Spaen,
one of the tall guards who had been in his confidence in 1730,
and had undergone cassation and arrest in consequence, enter-
tained Frederic the Great at his house in 1763. The King was
very gracious, and reverted to the associations of his youth, but
never once mentioned the occurrence of that unhappy period
when they had last met. Spaen said in reference to this —
" The King had an excellent memory up to the year ] 730."
There were some few exceptions to his conduct towards those
friends of his youth who had been connected with the circum-
stances of his disgrace. Keith, who had taken refuge in Eng-
land, and been employed on foreign military service by that
Power, in order to evade the demand of the King of Prussia
for his surrender, was recalled on Fredericks succession, and
appointed to the office of Stallmeister. Duhan, too, was treated
with unvarying affection and respect.

But to return to the course of events under the new adminis-
tration. The news of the death of the Emperor Charles VI.
reached Berlin on the 26th of October.* The King was at

* The year 1740 was marked by the death of three sovereigns, viz. Frederic
William of Prussia, Charles YI. of Austria, and Anne of Russia.

R 2

244 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Rheinsberg at the time, suffering from an attack of intermit-
tent fever. But despite the debilitating effects of illness, he
formed a rapid and masterly plan of operations, and proceeded
to act upon it without delay.

Amongst the alleged causes by which Frederic II. was
actuated in the undertaking he commenced on the death of the
Emperor, the following were the principal : —

Allusions have frequently been made in the course of the pre-
ceding narrative, to the succession of Juliers and Berg, which
was contested, in 1609, by the Elector, John Sigismund, and
the Pfalzgraf of Neuburg, and finally fell to the share of the
latter. The claim of the house of Brandenburg to this inherit-
ance was again asserted by Frederic William I. on the ultimate
succession again becoming open by the failure of direct heirs
to the last Pfalzgraf. The Emperor had lured him into giving
his assent to the Pragmatic Sanction in 1726, by holding
this tempting bait before his eyes, and despite his faithful ad-
herence to the imperial cause, he had felt the non-fulfilment
of this promise a sore grievance; and when, alarmed at the
triumphs of the French in the commencement of the war
of the succession of Poland, the Emperor hastily made peace
with France without reference to Prussia, Frederic William's
wrath waxed hot against the imperial ingratitude, and point-
ing to his successor, he exclaimed — "There stands one who
will avenge me." Thus, as Manteufel remarked, the King
of Prussia, like King David, forgave all his enemies before
his death, — on condition that his son should punish them
after it.*

But this was not the only grievance urged by Prussia
against Austria. Several principalities in the province of
Silesia had, from time to time, devolved by collateral succession
upon the Electors of Brandenburg, and the Emperors of Aus-

* Seckendorfs "Journal Secret." Le diable (Manteufel) dit que le Roi de
Prusse ressemble au Roi David, lequel, etant sur le lit de mort, dit, ' ' Je pardonne
a tous mes ennemis, esperant que mon fils les chatiera."

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 245

tria bad as often found pretexts for avoiding their investiture
into these estates.

Being in need of the services of the great Elector, the
Emperor then reigning, offered him the Circle of Schwiebus as
a quasi equivalent for the Principalities which were claimed by
him; his son Frederic III. had been induced to restore this
domain, by a privately-contracted treaty, on condition of re-
ceiving the imperial support. Conceiving himself afterwards
to have been overreached, although he did not reclaim the pos-
session, he left the affair as a hereditary injury, to be redressed
by his posterity.*

Certainly, Fredericks was not a mind upon which hereditary
bequests of vengeance were likely to be particularly binding,
but he by no means disdained to make use of them as a handle.
When, therefore, the news of the Emperor's death reached him,
his plan was clearly and instantly developed in his mind ; pro-
bably its outlines had existed there long before. It was a
moment in which, the succession having devolved upon a
young and inexperienced woman, whose husband " deserved
the praise of amiable qualities, rather than of commanding
talents, f a rapid swoop would put him at once in possession,
not only of redress for his father's and grandfather's grievances,
but what was far more to the purpose, of a valuable acquisition
of territory. The chivalry of his attack upon the dominions of
the young Empress Queen, who was altogether unsuspicious of
aggression on the part of Prussia, her father's tried ally, who
had expressly sanctioned her right to ascend the throne, is
altogether another question. It was the move of a masterly
and energetic mind, but not of a noble or magnanimous
one.

Both friends and destined enemies were long uncertain as to
what aim Frederic's rapid preparations for war might tend.
The lands of Juliers and Berg seemed the most tangible

* Kugler's ' ' Greschichte Fried, des Grossen."
*f- Mahon's England.

246 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

object of attack, but an attempt on the garrisoned district of
the Rhine would have been too rash. M. Botta, the imperial
envoy, when a tendency to an accumulation of troops on the
Silesian frontier became manifest, threw out, as a sort of feeler,
the remark, that the roads in that district of the empire were
in a frightful state, and Frederic drily replied, "then one
would bemire oneself in traversing them." When his object
did become apparent, the pretensions of the " Elector of
Brandenburg" were considered too absurd to meet with any-
thing but ridicule at Vienna.

On the 13th of December, 1740, there was a grand masked
ball at the castle at Berlin; the two Queens were present,
and so was the King; the masks hid many an anxious face
that night. Frederic left the room unremarked amongst
the crowd, and with the sounds of music and revelry accom-
panying his departure, took leave of Berlin on his first cam-
paign.

There was no hostile army to encounter on his march, the
Protestant inhabitants of Silesia gladly hailed the appearance
of a Protestant monarch ; the towns, with few exceptions,
joyfully opened their gates ; at Griineberg, the first town of
note to which the Prussians came, the scene of their admission
was a perfect comedy.* At Breslau they were received with
acclamation and festivity; Frederic himself opened a grand
ball with one of the principal ladies of the place, two days
after his entry. All the female part of the population espoused
the cause of the gallant young King and his magnificent
army, with enthusiasm ; marriages and love affairs were the
order of the day. Bielefeld relates, that one day, as he was
standing at the door conversing with his banker, a young and

very pretty woman passed, weeping bitterly. Herr D -, who

knew her, inquired the cause of her grief : after a little coy hesi-

* The commanding officer shut the gates, and told Frederic's officer that he de-
clined to give him the keys ; "but," said he, "there they lie upon the table : if
you take them, it is a different affair 1"

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 247

tation she replied, " I am married to a fusilier of the Munch au
regiment, and if I had only waited a week longer I might have
had a guard of six feet two ! "

Place after place submitted in like manner; from Ottrna-
chau Frederick writes to his friend Jordan, in exuberant
spirits at his rapid success. " My dear Herr Jordan, my
sweet Herr Jordan, my good — my mild — my peace-loving — my
all-affable Herr Jordan, I inform thy serenity that Silesia is
as good as conquered/'

Meantime a lively correspondence was maintained between
him and his Queen; few days passed without a despatch from
head-quarters, and the subjects treated of at this time appear
to have been of considerable importance. The Queen's brother,
Anthony Ulric, was married to Anne of Mecklenburg, the
niece of the Empress, Anne of Russia, and their young son
Iwan, was proclaimed Emperor under the regency of his father,
upon the Empress's death. Frederic was desirous of securing
the Russian alliance, and he made use of his wife's mediation
with her brother for this purpose. In a letter dated Ottma-
chau, 12th Jan. 174], he thanks her for the " manner and the
matter of the letter to her brother Anton," which he had begged
her to write ; he concludes his letter with the words, " God
give you health and prosperity, I hope soon again to see you
in good health, and to reiterate the assurances of the perfect
tenderness with which I am/' &c. &c. On the 21st of the same
month he writes — " You give me great pleasure by marking
the manner in which you have written to the Duke Anthony; I
begin already to feel the effects of his friendship, and I doubt
not that things will go as well as possible if you will take the
trouble to cultivate these good dispositions. Our affairs
prosper here. I have finished the campaign, and now the
only question is about winter quarters. I expect to be in
Berlin about the 5th or 6th of February, when I hope to have
the pleasure of embracing you — wholly yours, Frederic."
Even before that time, however, Frederic was again in his

248 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

capital, the object of his rapid movement, for the moment,
effectually obtained.

The news of this unheard-of undertaking was received with
astonishment, mingled with indignation, by the Courts both of
Vienna and London. Even the Pope was dismayed by the in-
telligence of so many of the orthodox creed having fallen into
the hands of a heretic ; Fredericks edicts of toleration, however,
quieted the alarm of the holy see. Graf Gotter's negotiation
having failed in inducing Frederic to give up his newly-
acquired territory, the Austrian army, towards the end of
February, advanced upon Silesia. That of the Prussian
monarch prepared for the approaching contest. For a moment
the fate of Silesia and the young fame of Frederic seemed
trembling in the doubtful balance, at the battle of Mollwitz.
The hero of so many fields of desperate fight fled like a very
coward from his first, and received, as a defeated fugitive, the
news of a victory gained by his general, not by himself. The
attack of the French and Bavarian army now obliged the young
Empress Queen to listen to overtures of accommodation. Un-
willingly, indignantly enough, indeed, was the cession of Silesia
agreed to, but agreed to it was; and Frederic received the
homage of the Princes and Stande of the Duchy of Silesia at
Breslau, on the 4th of November of the same year. The old
imperial throne was used for the ceremony, and like a ludicrous
caricature of the facility with which, from, an Austrian, Silesia
became a Prussian province, the double imperial eagle em-
broidered upon it speedily became the ensign of the Prussian
royalty, by the amputation of one of its heads !

The coronation of the Duke of Bavaria as Charles VII. Em-
peror of Germany, took place in the beginning of the next
year. The position of the young Empress Queen raised a deep
feeling of sympathy in every manly bosom amongst her sub-
jects; that deep-hearted shout of her Hungarian liegemen,
" Moriamur pro rege nostro Maria Theresa " went thrilling
through the land. Part of the French Bavarian army was

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 249

driven from Austria. Frederic began to fear Maria Theresa
was becoming too powerful ; he took the field again in conjunc-
tion with Saxony, whose sluggish monarch his superior energy
had forced into unwilling action.

During the April encampment at Chrudim, letters of high
importance were again constantly passing between Frederic and
his Queen ; hints of a plot for his assassination had excited in
her mind a fearful amount of anxiety respecting his safety ;
she wrote to apprize him of her fears, and of the cause of
them ; he seems to have thought the affair not devoid of foun-
dation, but begs her in his reply, dated 21st April, Chrudim,
" to keep the thing secret until it be apropos for me to bring it
to light." Again, in relation to the same subject, he writes to
her from the camp of Brezezi, 25th May, 1742, " II faut vous
aimer lorsqu'on vous connait, et la bonte de votre coeur merite
qu'on Pestime." " I am infinitely obliged to you for the pains
you take to fathom the truth of the intelligence that has been
reported to you ; but you may be free from anxiety, the Aus-
trians are so beaten and discouraged, that they certainly think
of anything rather than assassinations and conspiracies." This
letter was written shortly after the battle of Czaslau or Chotu-
sitz, which led to the triumphant peace of Breslau. From the
camp at Kuttenberg he writes again on the 22nd of June, to
announce to her the conclusion of peace which was proclaimed
on the 30th of the same month. Yet one more letter informs
her that she is soon to have the satisfaction of greeting her hero
unharmed from the field of his fame; and deeper and more
solemn even, than the feelings of thankfulness with which
she had listened to the grand, jubilant swell of the Te Deum,
after the battle of Mollwitz, were the thanksgivings now
offered up by Elizabeth Christina at the footstool of the God of
battles.

Frederic's reception at Berlin on the 12th of July was an
occasion of the most sincere rejoicing. The inhabitants of
Berlin thronged out of the city to meet their young monarch.

250 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

The delight of the Queen Mother was loud and exultant ; that
of the Queen regnant, deep, tremulous and silent. The King
was in high spirits ; gay scenes and happy faces met the eye on
every side ; it was a moment of common and heartfelt gladness
both for Prince and people.

The marriage of Fredericks brother, Prince William, with
the sister of Elizabeth Christina, was the cause not only of
much festivity at Court, but also of very great pleasure to the
young Queen, since it would place in her immediate proximity
a sister, between whom and herself there existed the warmest
affection. The Princess Louisa Amelia was not so handsome
as the Queen, but she was distinguished by an amiability of
character and a degree of good sense, which gained her the
sincere esteem of all who knew her, especially that of her
brother-in-law the King.

At this wedding Baron Bielefeld was deputed by Frederic to
compose and deliver a speech upon the comic investiture of
the bride with the " Straw Crown." Nervous as he was at this
essay in public speaking before so distinguished an audience,
Bielefeld nevertheless acquitted himself with eclat. He gives us
a description of all the prominent parties at the subsequent ball,
and of their dress. The King, in silver' cloth and epaulettes,
looked " youthful and handsome ;" but the Queen, who was
attired in green velvet, with bouquets of brilliants enriching the
train, brilliant-pins fastening her hair, and one large diamond,
like a star, on her forehead, was the figure which most captivated
his attention, and he somewhat tritely describes her toilette as
having been arranged by " all the handmaid graces."

But the days of Elizabeth Christina's happiness had flown
swiftly by in the old times of Rheinsberg. A letter written to
her favourite brother Ferdinand, whilst the title of " Queen "
yet sounded strange to her ear, speaks of intrigues which dis-
turbed her peace ; and every year as it passed was marked by
more and more estrangement on the part of her husband.
Nevertheless, in the year 1744, he celebrated, in her apartments,

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 251

the birthday of the Princess of Prussia, (Prince William had
taken the title of Prince of Prussia since his brother had given
up all hopes of an heir,) and this, says his Queen, in her con-
fidential correspondence with the same brother, caused great
jealousy in other parts of the family.

In the month of July, the same year, Frederic cemented his
alliance with Sweden by the marriage of his fair sister Ulrica
with the heir to the crown of that country. Prince William
acted as the representative of the Swedish Prince upon this
occasion. The Princess Ulrica, covered with Swedish diamonds,*
was a very fair as well as a glittering bride, and the King, in
gallant array of blue and silver, gave her away. The royal
family delayed the departure of this cherished member as long
as possible. Fete upon fete was given ; but the inevitable day
of separation at last arrived. There was an opera that night,
which the King had arranged, to distract in some degree the
grief of parting. The Princess in her travelling dress, " fair as
the wakening day," f was present, with her mother and the other
members of her family ; when, in the midst of the second act,
her young brother, Prince Ferdinand, threw his arms round her
neck, exclaiming, " Oh, my dear Ulrica, I shall never see you
any more ! " she clasped the boy to her bosom, and burst into
a passion of tears, whilst the uncontrollable sobs of the rest of
the party broke sadly upon the music of the piece, and called
forth answering emotions in the hearts of most of the spectators.

At the moment of parting, when his sister sank half-fainting
in Frederic's arms, the tears gushed from his eyes, and he
turned away with a heavy heart as she was placed in the
carriage. What a change had come over the brother and sister
before they met again in the same place, both advanced in
years, and he scheming to prevent her staying too long at the
home of her youth !

* Bielefeld. The collective value of the diamonds worn by the bride and the
two Queens on this occasion, was estimated at 8,000,000 Thalers. — Von HahnJce.
f Bielefeld.

252 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

The advantages gained by Maria Theresa over the Emperor
Charles VII., having induced the King of Prussia to ally him-
self with France in defence of that Prince,, shortly after the mar-
riage of the Princess Ulrica. Frederic once more took the field.
The news of the birth of an heir to the Prince of Prussia, which
reached him in camp at Tabor, greatly rejoiced him. Prince
Ferdinand of Brunswick wrote to his sister, the Queen, " that
the joy and satisfaction of the master was visible in his face "
when he heard of it. At the close of an unsuccessful campaign
he placed his army in winter-quarters and returned to Berlin.
The alliance concluded by England, Austria, Holland and
Saxony, at the commencement of the next year, 1745; the death
of the Emperor Charles, the cession of his claims by his heir,
and the more than doubtful character of the friendship of France,
placed Prussia in a somewhat critical position, but she had a
dauntless pilot at the helm. Frederic knew that he had made
a bitter enemy of Maria Theresa; neither was the purport
of that famous passage in George the Second's letter to her —
" Madam, that which is good to take is also good to restore," —
lost upon him. He bent all his energies to the task which lay
before him ; the great silver lustres of the apartments so mas-
sively furnished by Frederick William were melted to furnish
money, and all other needful preparations rapidly made. On
the 15th of March, 1745, Frederic once more left the capital to
try the doubtful chances of war.

Before the commencement of actual operations in the ensuing
campaign, the King paid a short visit to his capital ; the Queen
Mother, the Princess Amelia, his three brothers, and the Prin-
cess of Prussia, were invited to visit him at Rheinsberg. The
Queen regnant alone was excluded from the family party, and
bitterly did she feel this exclusion. This was the first very
marked instance of neglect which she had met with from her
husband ; in after years she was doomed to suffer from many
such instances. She writes to Prince Ferdinand, " I shall be
left all alone here in the old castle, like a true prisoner, whilst

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 253

the others are enjoying themselves. I amuse myself with
reading, work, and music, and it is a great jour de fete with me
when your letters arrive, it puts me in a good-humour for all
day." It is sad to read the effort at gaiety with which she
writes, that, " not to be the only stay-at-home," she had planned
a little excursion with her ladies to Kopenick. Her lonely so-
journ at Berlin, however, at least served to tranquillize the minds
of the inhabitants, who were alarmed at the approach of war.
The departure of the Queen Mother had added to the popular
depression ; she had travelled with a larger train than usual,
for she was in great exultation at the invitation to Rheinsberg ;
neither was the exclusion of her daughter-in-law a source of re-
gret to her ; a report was spread abroad that she had taken flight,
the capital being in danger, and that the Queen was about to
follow. Hearing of the panic which prevailed in the streets,
Elizabeth Christina immediately went forth to show herself in
public, and her appearance amongst them sufficed to calm
the terrors of the populace. The campaign which ensued,
brought to her various causes of anxiety. Besides the husband
whom she still idolized, despite his growing alienation, she had
other valuable stakes in the great game of war. Four of her
brothers fought on the side of her husband, and one on that of
the Austrians;* consequently, the despatches from the army
were looked for by her with intense and painful interest. She
received the intelligence of her husband's narrow escape from
captivity at Camenz,t arid of the great victory of Hohenfriedberg
with feelings of deep thankfulness ; but the Prussian conquest
at Sorr was dearly bought for the Queen, since it cost the life
of her young brother Albert ; the blow, too, was made heavier,

that it fell, softened by no tenderness on the part of her hus-

* Kugler,

f Frederic escaped the Austrian soldiers sent to take him captive at this place,
only by adopting the ecclesiastical garb and assisting in the performance of mass.
In commemoration of the fidelity of the abbot, Tobias Stusche, he presented him
with a rich set of ecclesiastical robes. The abbot had the Prussian eagle em-
broidered upon them, and wore them first on Frederic's name-day. — See Kugler's
" Geschichte Fried, des Grossen."

254 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

band. The rash conduct of the Prince had excited his displea-
sure, even the death of the unfortunate young man seemed
scarcely to mitigate his resentment ; he did not write at all to
his Queen at first, and when he did so afterwards, it was in cold,
unsympathizing terms, which did but lacerate the wound she
had received. " I pity and regret the dead/' says his letter ; " I
deplore the death of your brother Albert, but he incurred his
fate from rashness, and without necessity ; I pity you, Madam,
but there are events for which there is no remedy." Even the
gentle heart of Elizabeth Christina resented this unkindness to
the dead; she could not forgive the harshness of her husband's
judgment; but on hearing that he had spoken kindly and
sympathizingly on the subject to her brother Charles, the
reigning Duke of Brunswick Bevern, she was but too happy to
believe she had wronged his feelings, and she greeted his return
to Berlin with delight when it took place, in October.

On her birthday, too, the 8th of November, she notices with
a pleasure which shows how any trifling mark of kindness from
the King was treasured by her, that he had sent her two pieces
of stuff early in the morning, as a present ; on that day, also,
the banners which had been taken at Hohenfriedberg and Sorr,
were hung up in the churches. On that same day secret intel-
ligence was brought to Frederic that the Austrians and Saxons
were about to make an attack upon the Mark itself. Like a
skilful chess-player, who diverts a threatened attack at home by
an unexpected irruption into the heart of his opponent's board,
Frederic, whilst apparently only guarding his own frontiers,
despatched the hardy veteran Anhalt into the very neighbour-
hood of Dresden, whilst he himself appeared unexpectedly in
Lausitz.

These daring movements left his capital, indeed, unguarded,
save by the citizens, who endeavoured to repair the fortifications
of the city, if such they could be called. Meanwhile the in-
habitants were in great and well-founded consternation : news
was brought that the Austrian general lay encamped within

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 255

three days' march. The archives were removed to a place of
greater security : the inhabitants of the suburbs crowded into
the town ; the inhabitants of the town fled into the country ;
horses could scarcely be obtained on any terms ; the streets
were crowded with carriages vainly awaiting the means of loco-
motion. " Three deadly long days were thus spent, whilst
every moment brought worse news/' says Bielefeld.* Suspense
had reached its height, and the general depression was extreme,
when the news of the victory at Catholic Hennersdorf suddenly
changed the whole aspect of affairs. The two Queens had held
themselves prepared for flight at any moment ; the news of the
victory arrived whilst the Queen Mother was supping with
Elizabeth Christina. " We have not passed an evening so con-
tentedly for very long," writes the latter on the 17th of De-
cember.

The battle of Hennersdorf was speedily succeeded by that of
Kesselsdorf, where that old lion of war, the Prince of Anhalt-
Dessau, gave one more brilliant proof that "Anhalt les
Moustaches" was, though older, no way less vigorous and
fiery than when he had joyfully led his troops to victory in the
days of his youth.

The conclusion of the peace of Dresden, after this short but
brilliant campaign, which terminated the second Silesian war,
left Frederic once more at liberty to return to Berlin. On the
28th of December the whole town was in a state of joyful com-
motion ; the inhabitants lined the road by which he was to ap-
proach for miles ; cries of " Long live Frederic the Great "
saluted the conqueror, and the tenderest of greetings awaited
him from mother and wife. There was a general illumination,
and the whole population was afloat in the glittering streets,
which resounded with music and jubilation; no one thought of
retiring to repose. But Frederic visited a very different scene
that night ; his old preceptor, Duhan, lay dying, and the young
King stood beside his bed in the chamber of death, strangely

* Now Prince Ferdinand's tutor.

256 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

lighted by the illuminations from without, to bid a long farewell
to the friend of both his youth and manhood.

This scene cast a gloom over Fredericks return. He had
already lost, in the course of the year, two of his most cherished
friends, Jordan and Kaiserling : he had written to Duhan him-
self, shortly before, that in them he had lost " his family/' that
he was " widowed and orphaned," and he entreated him to be
careful of his health, for he was the last of his circle of friends.
Strange, that in his " heart-sorrow," * he should not have turned
to the heart that was aching to bestow its sympathies, yearning
but for leave to speak one little word of comfort, and asking
nothing in return ; but Frederic the Great preferred turning,
for consolation and sympathy, to a set of wretched, little, pam-
pered lap-dogs, instead of to a true-hearted and loving, though
neglected wife. Verily, Frederic the Great had his reward !

During the eleven years of tranquillity which followed the
peace of Dresden, Frederic sedulously attended to the improve-
ment of his kingdom, particularly of the conquered province
of Silesia, which he regarded with especial affection, and which
soon repaid his care by assuming the appearance of a blooming
garden, and adding richly to the resources of the treasury.

To supply the place of his " beloved solitude " of Rheins-
berg, which he had presented to his brother Henry, Frederic
built himself a castle in the royal Weinberge, near Potsdam.
He borrowed the conceit of the name " Sorgefrei," which one
of his friends had given to his own country residence, and
applied it to this new palace. But the monarch of Prussia had
stirred up a political hornef s-nest when he seized Silesia, and
Sans-souci was not very likely to furnish its inmate with the
calm which its name ostentatiously announced. Here, how-
ever, he indulged, at least, in the enlightened society which was
his greatest enjoyment, literary and learned men once more
surrounded him.f The Marquis D'Argens came to live in Berlin.

* See Frederic's letter to Duhan.

f Frederic wrote to Voltaire shortly after his accession, June 27, 1740, "I

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 257

Voltaire had already twice visited that city ; he now accepted
honorary office from Frederic, and took up his residence there.
For a time he was constantly in the society of the King, who
said he would add to his name, as the most honoured of his
titles, that of " proprietor of Voltaire/' But no real friend-
ship could subsist between men who were both exceedingly
selfish, both egregiously vain, and both literary. Besides,
Voltaire was greedy, and his Prussian Majesty was becoming
parsimonious.

Frederic always wrote in French, but he was not thoroughly
master of the French language, either in style, grammar, or
orthography. He wrote multifarious French verses, not because
nature had made him a poet,* but his manner of thought was
artificial in many respects, and he saw no objection to an arti-
ficial style of poetry. Voltaire was employed to correct and
revise these effusions, as well as the severer labours of Frederic's
pen; sometimes he could not fail to find the royal Pegasus but
a very sorry jade ; he condescended to flatter the King upon his
poetry, but he spoke contemptuously of it to others. Unfortu-
nately, an expression which he allowed himself to use to an
author who requested him to read his unpublished work, that he
" had not time, for he had the King's linge sale a blanchir" \
was repeated to Frederic, and it was never either forgotten or for-
given. But his quarrel with the naturalist Maupertuis, — like-

have laid the foundations of our new academy ; I have made the acquisition of
Wolff, Maupertuis, and Algarotti. I await the answer of Gravesende, of Vau-
canson, and Euler." — Recueil des Leltres de M. de Voltaire et du Roi de
Prusse.

* Frederic informs Voltaire, in his correspondence, that a young and beautiful
woman first taught him, in his youth, both to love and to make verses. — Ibid.

•f* See Formey's "Memoirs d'un Citoyen." He is no friend to Voltaire, and
gives this and a variety of other anecdotes in detail. Voltaire denied having
ever used the expression ; in a letter to the King of Prussia, dated Ferney,
Aug. 20, speaking of Maupertuis, he says: — " J'ai tou jours sur le cceur le mal
irreparable qu'il m'a fait : je ne penserai jamais a la calomnie du linge donne
a blanchir a la blanchisseuse, a cette calomnie insipide qui m'a ete mortelle, et
a tout ce qui s'en est suivi, qu'avec une douleur qui m'empoisonnera mes demiers
jours."

8

258 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

wise an importation of French learning, whom Frederic had
appointed President of the renovated and remodelled Academy
of Sciences-— was the immediate cause of Voltaire's rupture
with the King of Prussia., inasmuch as he persisted in publish-
ing his "Dr. Akakia" (a bitter satire upon Maupertuis), despite
his promise to Frederic to suppress it.* I will not stay to tell
how, on the cooling of their intimacy, the King, displeased with
Voltaire's continual complaints of his supplies of coffee, candles,
&c., stopped them. How Voltaire, in reprisals, descended from
his room to steal the candles from the lustres, f and so on.
Who would have believed that the two greatest geniuses of the
age could condescend to such a petty warfare as school-boys
might have waged upon each other's play-boxes !

Queen Elizabeth Christina, meanwhile, led a life which, from
year to year, became more retired and monotonous. During
the time that she was still crown Princess, she had received the
little estate of Schonhausen as a present. After she became
Queen, it was her constant summer residence ; she had greatly
embellished the gardens and become much attached to the
place. She used gladly, therefore, to hail the first sunny April
days which might make an excursion thither possible. She was
now never invited to join the rest of the family on their visits
to the King at Potsdam, or elsewhere. There is extant a nearly
continuous series of her letters to her brother Ferdinand, for
some years after the peace of Dresden. The sad consciousness
of slighted affection, isolation and neglect, runs through them
all like a sort of melancholy refrain, as if the writer's thoughts,
when allowed to dwell upon herself, had become sorrowfully at-
tuned to that one theme. References, too, are made from time to
time in them, to intrigues and " jealousy " on the part of the
other members of the royal family, and no doubt there was but
too much truth in her suspicions on this head. Frederic himself
seems to have been conscious of the ill-feeling with which she
was regarded, for in one of his letters to her, dated August 10,
* See Formey's " Memoirs d'un Citoyen. t Ibid.

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 259

1739, he says: — " Ne elites point, s'il vous plait, que je vous
ecris cette fois, parce que n'ecris point a la Heine."

The King was very ill in the beginning of the year 1747.
The Queen writes to Prince Ferdinand in February — " I can
now write, dear brother, with a more tranquil heart than I did
by the last post ; for, God be praised ! our dear King is again
better, and out of all danger ; he has been very ill, and I have
suffered a thousand inquietudes. If I had dared, I should
have gone to Potsdam myself, to see him ; perhaps he may
come on Wednesday. I wish it with all my heart, for it would
be the sign of a perfect recovery." In July, the same year, she
says delightedly, " I have received a most obliging and gracious
letter from the dear Master, apologizing for not alighting here
as he passed, and giving me notice that he will come and see
me here some day : he has also written to Madame de Camas
in the most gracious manner. I keep this secret, so that the
family may not hear of it. Sans quoi elk tdcherait de me
jouer de nouveau, tout etant jaloux de la moindre grace qu'on
me temoigne, but as I know it will give you pleasure, I do not
fail to let you know. Je ne me suis pas sentie de joie when I
received this letter, not having had anything so gracious for a
long time."

Another letter of nearly the same period, says, that the Queen
Mother being invited to visit the King at Charlottenburg, Eli-
zabeth Christina had requested to be permitted to go likewise.
She expresses at the same time the most entire submission to
her husband's will, " but," writes she, " it is mortifying to see
myself thus always separated from him." This humble request
was granted ; nevertheless, under the plea that there was not
accommodation enough for so many visitors, the reigning Queen
was obliged to return every night to Berlin, whilst the Queen
Mother and her train were lodged in the palace at Charlotten-
berg.* July 1748, she speaks of the reported improvements at
Potsdam, and of her wish to inspect them. tf Yet it is not all

* This was the visit when the fire described by Bielefeld, took place, in 1747.

S 2

260

MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

this magnificence which attracts me, but the dear Master who
inhabits the place. Why was it necessary that all should
change, and that I should lose all the old kindnesses and
favours ? I still think with pleasure of the times of Rheinsberg,
when I enjoyed perfect contentment, having been kindly received
by a master whom I cherish, and for whom I would sacrifice
my life. Ah ! what regret do I feel now when all is changed !
— but my heart will always be the same, and I hope always that
all will again be as of old; this sole hope supports me." — In
August, 1749, the Queen Mother and her ladies went to Pots-
dam, whilst the Queen and her sister, the Princess of Prussia,
were left behind. — August 20th, Schonhausen, she writes :
"We are all alone here; many of the ladies are gone into the
country, and others refuse my invitations. I believe they are
afraid to come, lest it should give offence : every one avoids
coming ; only the good Valori came before leaving for Potsdam :
even Madame de Kanneberg could not come to me on Sunday,
yet she was the same evening at Monbijou.

' ' ' Quand la Fortune nous rit

Elle mene a suite une foule d'amis.'

Madame de Kanneburg grieves me, I thought her more con-
stant, and have given her lately real proofs of my friendship ;
but in this world there is nothing but ingratitude. I hope the
dear King is well, and that his fatigues do not injure his health."

February, 1750. "I wish I could change places with those
who are at Potsdam unwillingly, and who do not like to be with
the King ; as for me, I should hold it one of the greatest bless-
ings which could happen to me; but, in the course of this
world, one never has that for which one wishes."

Again : " I am glad that my sister is of the party, at least it
is a pleasure for her, and that is as it should be. I am charmed
that it is only I who suffer mortifications, and who am aban-
doned. The Prince of Prussia offered to leave her, but my
greatest happiness is to see her happy; he would have spoken
for me, but I replied at once, that though I was very sensible

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 261

of the treatment I received, yet it would be an additional mor-
tification to me to see my sister on the same footing as myself.
For me there is nothing left to wish for, that can befall me, but
to gain the prize in the great lottery at Frankfort to pay my
debts with, and then tranquilly await my death, when it shall
please God to withdraw me from this world, where there is
nothing for me."

Happy indeed was it for her who, despite her high-sounding
title, had " nothing in this world," that she had early learned to
lay up rich treasures in another, " where neither moth nor rust
do corrupt, nor thieves break through and steal."

Yet though Frederic neglected the Queen himself, he would
not, wittingly, allow any other person to treat her with the
slightest disrespect, as, presuming on the King's supposed total
disregard of his consort, ill-informed or upstart strangers were
sometimes apt to do. Once, several of the foreign singers, who
were performing at Berlin, had the insolence to refuse to per-
form at a concert given by her. Their conduct brought down
a tremendous and well-deserved rebuke from the King, who
ordered them, as his " express will," to hold themselves con-
stantly at the command of Her Majesty, lest they should " oblige
him to have recourse to more serious measures, to make them
repent their extravagant and ridiculous arrogance." The next
year he himself arranged the programme for her concert.

Such foreign ambassadors, likewise, as were not wanting in
discernment, found that attentions paid to the Queen by their
employers, were by no means a bad method of obtaining the
favourable attention of the King, as in the case of the Marquis
de Valori, who, in his despatches to the French Court, requested
that a handsome piece of Vincennes porcelain might be sent to
her, because " this present would oblige her, and attentions to
her flatter the King of Prussia ; for whatever may be his indif-
ference to her, which I believe to be only feigned, it displeases
him much to fail in what is due to her." * Occasionally, too, a
* Von Hahnke.

26.2 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

splendid present from Frederic would flatter his gentle wife with
delusive hopes of a return of his affection. In 1747 he gave her
a splendid phaeton, lined with scarlet velvet and gold, with
trappings and housings of the same materials for the eight
horses which drew it. In this splendid equipage the Queen ap-
peared, dressed " d I'amazone," at a grand review, where the
soldiers defiled and saluted before her. The next year she re-
ceived a similar present ; this time eight milk-white horses, with
nodding plumes, bore the Queen to the review, but these
presents became rarer, as the necessity of economy impressed
itself more and more upon Fredericks mind.

Other sorrows, besides her husband's neglect, disturbed the
peace of Elizabeth Christina from time to time ; her long-tried
and trusted friend, Madame de Katsch, had been obliged, by ill-
health, to cede to Madamede Camas in 1742, her post of Ober-
hofmeisterin. She sunk gradually afterwards, until it at length
became apparent that her existence was drawing to a close;
wishing to spare her beloved mistress pain, she had declined to
see her for some time, until the Queen insisted on being allowed
to visit her early friend. On seeing Madame de Katsch, she
was greatly shocked at the change which had taken place in
her appearance, and already lamented the loss which she fore-
saw awaited her; Madame de Katsch died in 1748. Another
of the sorrows of the Queen of Prussia was, that her brother,
Duke Anthony Ulric, had been imprisoned at the time of the re-
volution, which deposed his infant son Iwan, and placed Eliza-
beth upon the throne of Russia. Elizabeth Christina had begged
her husband to interfere to procure her brother's liberty, and
he had pleaded urgent reasons to excuse his not doing so. Duke
Anthony therefore remained a prisoner. But a great political
crisis was now at hand, which in its own overwhelming interest
and excitement swallowed up, in the Queen's mind, all lesser
anxieties. A storm, such as had never yet assailed the king-
dom of Prussia, had long been gathering, black and terrible,
over head. It was now about to burst, and to shake to its very

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 263

foundations the throne of Frederic the Great in the course of
the Seven Years' War. I need not dwell here upon causes
which have been very frequently and fully detailed by so many
abler pens ; it is sufficient to say, that Maria Theresa had
never forgiven the robbery, as she considered it, which had
despoiled her of Silesia, and that her minister Kaunitz was un-
friendly to Prussia; that the petticoat government of France
was irritated by the sarcasms of the wicked wit of Sans Souci ;
that a similar cause prompted Russian ill-will ; that the omni-
potent Briihl, at Dresden, personally disliked Frederic, who had
thwarted him in 1742, and again and again since that era.
Sweden also was influenced at that moment by France; besides,
a general combination to dismember Prussia, led her once more
to cast a longing eye upon Pomerania. Nothing but an
alliance was needed to form the most crushing preponderance
of power against Prussia. True, Austria and France were
hereditary enemies, but now they had a common cause, and
Maria Theresa stooped to flatter the Pompadour — that difficulty
vanished; the alliance was formed. No ally but England
was left for Prussia. England was already at war with France,
both in her American and Asiatic colonies ; an alliance in
Europe was desirable ; Russia and Austria had leagued them-
selves with her enemies ; she turned therefore to Prussia, and
these two Powers, hitherto anything but mutually friendly, now
united in a league offensive and defensive. With these singu-
larly-altered political relations of the chief Powers of Europe
which arrayed " five Powers, whose united population exceeded
ninety millions, against a single kingdom with less than five
millions," * commenced that dreadful struggle, known in his-
tory as the Seven Years' War.

Prompt and decided in action, as usual, Frederic did not await
the attack of his enemies ; he was well aware of the advantage
gained by an unexpected swoop, which like the sudden spring

* See Mahon's England.

264 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

of a wild beast, paralyses its victim for a time.* He dined
and supped at Monbijou with his mother and wife on the
19th August, 1756. On the 9th of September he was master
of Dresden. On the 10th of October the people of Berlin
were celebrating the victory of Lowositz ; f four days later
the Saxon army, intrenched in Pirna, laid down their arms,
and the campaign of the autumn of 1756 was at an end.
Frederic took up his winter-quarters at BriihPs House, in
Dresden. J

But whilst the " great heart of Her Majesty "§ the Queen of
Prussia was pouring out its thankfulness in tears, at the news
of the result of the battle of Lowositz, and of the other
successes of the Prussian arms, a very different feeling ani-
mated the mind of the unhappy Queen of Poland. Left in
the capital, and charged with the guardianship of most im-
portant papers, by her supine husband and his minister, the
discourtesy to which she had been subjected, by Frederic's
imperative orders to his officers to secure the papers, added
exasperation to the bitterness of spirit with which she beheld
the downfall of her country, and joined her to the list of
female enemies who had formed so powerful a league against
Frederic. Fortune, too, was herself to unite, for a time, with
this confederacy, in the ensuing campaign. ||

* See Livingstone's Africa, on the effect of the spring and bite of the lion.

t Gained October 1st.

I It is said that Frederic indulged his spite against the Saxon minister by
shivering one of the magnificent pier-glasses in his luxuriously -furnished house,
with his cane. — See Malmesbury's Despatches. Other accounts say that he
amused himself by inspecting the toilet appliances of this Saxon exquisite, whose
jewels, watches, &c., to an incredible amount, were left behind ; but the most
curious part of his property was a book, which contained not only an inventory,
but also a portrait of each of his multitudinous suits of apparel !

§ Sack " expressed in his sermons 'the feeling which inspired the great heart
of Her Majesty.' " — See Von Hahnke.

|| See Letter of Frederic to the Lord Marischal, after the battle of Kollin.
" Fortune, my dear Lord, has this day turned her back upon me ; I ought to
have expected it. Fortune is a female, and I am not gallant. Fortune now
declares in favour of the ladies, who are making war upon me."

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 265

The desperate, but splendid battle of Prague, although it all
but destroyed the enemy, maimed Frederic's little army fearfully ;
and even its dear-bought laurels withered, as he said, when he
thought of Marshal Schwerin, as he fell shrouded by the glori-
ous death-sheet of the Prussian banner.*

As yet, nothing but the news of victory after victory had
reached the ears which were so anxiously awaiting intelligence
in Berlin; but now a terrible disaster in the field, family mis-
fortune and bereavement at home, and calamitous failure on the
part of Prussia's only ally, England, combined, nearly at the
same moment, to depress the hearts of the royal family, and to
paralyse, for the moment, even the energy of Frederic himself.

He had made a flying visit to Berlin in the beginning of
January, 1757, and, as usual, spent the last evening of his stay
there with his mother, little thinking it was the last time he
should ever see her. After that time no marked alteration was
visible in her health, until the very day of her death, on the
28th of June, the same year.

The relations of the two Queens had latterly been much more
friendly ; Elizabeth Christina speaks, in various passages of her
letters, of the comfort which the increased kindness of her
mother-in-law had proved to her. They appear to have been on
terms of even affectionate intimacy for some time before the
Queen Mother's death. It was, therefore, with sincere grief
upon her own account, as well as upon that of her husband, to
whom she well knew the loss would prove a heavy trial, that
Elizabeth Christina received the intelligence of the death of her
mother-in-law. That of the defeat of Kollin f arrived almost
simultaneously. The Queen and the Princess of Prussia passed
the evening of that sad day together, in the vain effort to console
each other. Fortunately they were not then fully aware of what
the probable results of that defeat might be, nor of the domes-

* See Lord Mahon's quotation from Archenholz — "Das panier seines Monar-
chen deckte ihn, und verhullte seine Todes-zuge."

t The battle of Kollin was fought on the 18th June, 1757.

266 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

tic misfortune and premature widowhood which it was to bring
upon one of the sisters. But the return of Prince William from
the camp, — broken in health, and with that barbed shaft which
was to bring him to an untimely grave, already rankling in his
heart, — afforded ample occupation both to the Princess and the
Queen, in providing, at least, for his bodily comfort, and in
striving to assuage the pain of his mental wound.

Frederic's harshness upon this occasion, as before upon the
death of her own young brother, seems to have awakened doubts
of his justice, even in the mind of his adoring wife. Prince
William's character was so amiable and affectionate, and he
was so much beloved by all the other members of his family,
that the bitter resentment which Frederic testified against him,
on account of the disastrous result, (partly caused by his own
obstinate disbelief of Prince William's representations,) of the
retreat which he had conducted, might well produce doubts as to
the nature of his fraternal feelings. Prince William saw his
brother but once again, and on that occasion a cutting sarcasm
drove him back to Rheinsberg, to mourn over his unjustly-
blighted honour, to languish on for a few months, and then to
die, in the very prime of his manhood, unreconciled to the
brother whose unkindness had broken his heart. And Frederic
himself, by no means free from the blame of military tacticians *
in the defeat of Kollin, could act thus towards his gentle-
hearted brother, whilst the mother that bore them both — and
whose death was at that very time causing him the most
poignant sorrow — was as yet not laid in her grave. Certainly,
the character of this man formed one of the strangest com-
pounds of feeling and the want of it, as well as of grandeur
and littleness, which our strange human nature ever presented.

Meanwhile, danger was gathering round Prussia on every
side. The very capital fell for a moment into the hands of the
enemy. The royal family took hasty refuge at Spandau, and
the Austrian general Haddick, levied a contribution of 200,000

* Kugler.

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 267

Thalers on Berlin, and procured for his Empress that curious
trophy of ladies' kid gloves, which furnished a ludicrous omen
of the result of the war, inasmuch as, when unpacked, they
were found to be all made to fit the left hand only ! * The
Convention of Closter Seven, which fettered the hands of his
English allies, and left the Hanoverian frontier open to his
French enemies, alone seemed wanting to complete the ruin of
Frederic ; but flinging off the depression caused by defeat and
sorrow, he was now once more himself, and once more his
enemies retreated, discomfited, before him.

On the eighth of November, her birthday, the Queen cele-
brated the victory of Rossbach, in Magdeburg, f whither she had
received directions from the King to repair, with the Princess
Amelia, and the other members of the royal family. And
though this battle did but gain King Frederic " leisure to fight
another," one month afterwards, the pious Prussian soldiery,
who had marched to battle singing that simple prayer of manful
hearts —

" Gieb dass ich theu' mit Fleiss was mir zu thun gebiihret — "J
were sending up beneath the star-lit heaven, amidst the dead
and wounded, on the bloody field of Leuthen, their solemn
hymn of thanksgiving to the God, who had heard and granted

* Kugler.

f Great numbers of the French prisoners taken at Rossbach were sent to Mag-
deburg ; the officers were most kindly treated, rather like visitors of distinction
than prisoners. But they seem to have repaid this hospitality by the most dis-
graceful conduct ; when invited to the Queen's assemblies they ransacked the
chateau as if it were the property of a conquered enemy, looking into the buffets,
and, it is said, even carrying off the plate ; whilst with the grossest disrespect, some
of them were seen, lounging and cracking nuts, behind the Queen's chair as she was
seated at the card -table. — Thiebault. They even ventured to post up scandalous
affiches respecting some of the court ladies. The Marquis D'Argens wrote to the
King to complain of these impertinences, and Frederic gave orders that they should
be placed under a somewhat stricter measure of surveillance. — Von Hahrike.

J " Grant that I do with zeal, that which to do behoveth."

As the foremost columns marched forward, singing this hymn, an officer asked
Frederic whether he should enjoin silence on the soldiers. He replied "No !"
and, turning to the pious Ziethen, remarked — "Do you not think, that with such
soldiers, God will certainly give me the victory ? "

268 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

their prayer. No wonder, as Frederic said, that with "such
soldiers God had given him the victory."

These successes having rendered the residence in Berlin
once more secure, the Queen and Court prepared to return
thither, and great was the rejoicing consequent upon this event,
as well as upon the news of the King's victories, for Elizabeth
Christina was justly popular in the capital. She was, there-
fore, received with acclamation when she re-entered its gates on
the 5th of January, 1758.

On the Duke of Cumberland resigning the command, after
concluding the convention of Closter Seven, Prince Ferdinand
of Brunswick had been appointed General of the combined
English and Hanoverian troops. He set off to assume this
charge shortly after the battle of Rossbach. He was the
Queen's favourite brother ; they were firmly united, not only
by the bonds of fraternal affection, but also by the simple, un-
affected piety which formed the basis of the characters of both.
The intelligence of the glorious distinction which Prince
Ferdinand had earned at Crefeld, and of the enthusiastic ad-
miration in which he was held in England, which made such
noble English soldiers as Lord Granby and General Conway
proud to fight under his command, could not fail to inspire his
sister with the liveliest delight. Her husband also once more
needed her assistance and mediation with her brother Charles of
Brunswick, who had threatened to withdraw his troops ; her in-
tervention was successful ; the King wrote to thank her from the
camp ; he mentioned her services also to her brother Ferdinand,
speaking of her, in his letter, by that precious, but now seldom-
used title of " my wife," and Elizabeth Christina was proud
and happy. But many a bitter drop mingled even in that brief
draught of pleasure. The death of Prince William, early in
June, left her beloved sister crushed and widowed in heart and
mind ; he had been a tender husband and father, although the
natural shyness of his disposition made him ashamed to mani-
fest his feelings openly. He had also been a kind and steady

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 269

friend to the Queen herself, and she had too few upon whose
friendship she could rely, not to miss him sorely from the circle.
She wrote to the King, in her grief and anxiety for her sister ;
and to her comfort, he promised, in his reply, to be a father to
his brother's fatherless children, and the end of his letter was
blistered with his tears. He also acceded to her request, that
her mother might be allowed to come to visit and comfort the
Princess of Prussia j but there is something very painful in the
humble request she makes for this little favour, promising that
no intrigues shall arise, and that no expense shall be incurred
in her mother's reception. Besides these troubles also, the
ravages that the Russian army was committing in the northern
districts of Prussia, leaving nothing but black and smouldering
ruins and houseless, starving wretches, where they had found
prosperous villages and a happy peasantry, called for painful
sympathy in every feeling heart. Zorndorf, which put a stop to
their outrages, though it was a glorious victory, was a day of
dreadful battle, where the stern vengeance of the Prussians,
which would give or take no quarter, lavishly watered that
ghastly field with some of the noblest blood of Prussia, as well
as with that of the barbarous foe.

The defence of the Fatherland, too, which had already cost
her so dear, was soon to demand another sacrifice from the
family of Elizabeth Christina, in the person of her brother,
Frederic Franz ; thus the defeat of Hochkirch became to her, as
but to too many another mourner in the land, a twofold disaster.
To add to her own grief also, she shared that of her husband
for the death of his favourite sister, the Margravine of Bai-
reuth, which occurred on the 14th of October, the very day of
the battle, and which she knew would have a severe effect
upon the mind of the King. It was indeed a terrible blow to
come upon him, in the midst of the depression caused by the
desperate position of his affairs after the defeat, when the sal-
vation of the country itself, depended only upon the exhausted
state of the Austrian army, which prevented Daun from imrae-

270 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

diately taking advantage of his success. That winter, which
Frederic passed at Dresden, having resolved not to re-enter his
capital, until he could do so with a prospect of peace, was a
season of great trial to the Queen. The next year, 1759, in its
mingled report of good and evil fortune, furnished tidings of
her brother Ferdinand's splendid victory at Minden, but a few
posts before the courier of terrible defeat followed at the heels
of him, who was to have borne triumphant news of victory at
Kiinersdorf. The defeat of Wedell had allowed the junction of
Soltikoff and Loudon ; Frederic's army was all but destroyed
at Kiinersdorf; the road to Berlin was open to the enemy;
and once more the royal family received hasty directions from
the King to take shelter at Magdeburg.

As in the cases of Kollin and Hochkirch, the defeat of
Kiinersdorf produced a temporary, but entire prostration in the
mind of Frederic. It was in moments such as these that the
real weakness of the man, who was without any " sure hope in
his God/' became apparent. The only idea which possessed
attraction for his mind, in his despondency, was the (as he
hoped) dreamless sleep of death. He had accustomed himself
to the idea of suicide; perhaps, if the truth were known, he
rather liked it should be rumoured that he carried a deadly
poison constantly about his person ; he now, in no doubtful
terms, expressed his intention of not surviving disgrace. Truly
it was not astonishing that the mind of a man, who had been
constantly, for the last four years, straining every nerve to meet,
with his little army, the overwhelming numbers of the foes which
beset him on every side, should sometimes be unstrung. He
had written to D'Argens in the beginning of the year that there
was no longer a " Sans Souci " in the world for him ; that his
friend would not recognise him, in the old, gray, worn-out man
he had become. He complained to Algarotti of the fate that
rendered him " homeless, like the wandering Jew/' His health
was not equal to the dreadful fatigues of body and mind which
he was called upon to encounter. Nevertheless, even at a mo-

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 271

ment when lie seemed on the very brink of despair and self-de-
struction— an oversight of the enemy, an instant's hesitation in
taking advantage of a victory — afforded stimulus enough to set
Fredericks boundless energy once more in full play, and some
masterly and lightning-like movement forestalled his adversary's
march, or defeated his best-laid plans. So it was in the present
instance; Soltikoff had suffered much from the battle ; another
such victory, said he, and he must carry his staff to his imperial
mistress, as all that remained of his command. He and Loudon
allowed a difference of opinion to divide the unity of their opera-
tions; neither of them would march on to Berlin at once.
Frederic took advantage of their delay to repair his numerical
losses. In an incredibly short time he was again ready for the
contest, but his adversaries separated and withdrew, leaving
him free to hasten into Saxony, where he had experienced
several misfortunes.

The winter season of rest gave him time to provide for the
emergencies of the next campaign. True the treasuries had
long been exhausted, the coinage was debased to the lowest
degree, and the English subsidies eked out with alloy ; *
whilst recruits were levied^ seduced, or stolen, no one knew
whence ;t still the next year found the King of Prussia making
head, as vigorously as ever, against the Austrian and Russian
generals. The victory of Liegnitz, in the autumn of 1760,

* Thiebault says that the four millions furnished by England, became ten in the
hands of Ephraim the Jew (who was employed by Frederic to extend his finances
in various ways). — See the " Souvenirs de Vingt Ans."

•p The French frontiers furnished many of these recruits, who were either
dazzled by the hope of speedy promotion in Frederic's army, or forcibly carried
off by the Prussian emissaries. Few of these young men could speak German,
they were therefore, before the King saw them, generally taught to pronounce the
regular answers to the three questions which he always asked them in Grerman on
these occasions — " How old are you"? " " How long have you served ? " "Are
you well fed and treated ?" Frederic one day accidentally transposed these ques-
tions, so that the dialogue then took place in the following order: — "How long
have you served ?" — " Twenty-one years." "How old are you ?"— " One year,
Sire !" "Are you mad or am I ?" — "Both, Sire." For this anecdote see Thie-
bault's "Souvenirs," and the "Karakterziige F.W.I."

272 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

secured him Silesia, but Berlin fell into the enemy's hands,
despite the gallant defence of the wounded hero of Rossbach
and Zorndorf, Seydlitz. The news of the King's approach,
however, sufficed to free the capital from the presence of the
invaders ; and Frederic was back in Saxony, driving Daun from
his intrenchments, and forcing him to give battle at Torgau, by
the 3rd of November.

The campaign of the next year was one of extreme difficulty^
and though no absolute defeat crippled the forces of Frederic,
still he was hemmed in by enemies on every side. The
ministry of Lord Bute deprived him of the regular supplies he
had hitherto relied upon from England : Choiseul's attempts at
a pacification were unsuccessful. Prussia seemed once more
on the brink of destruction, when the death of the Empress Eli-
zabeth, placed Frederic's ardent admirer, Peter the Third, on the
throne, and thus by bringing about a peace with Russia,
procured him a moment's breathing time and a nearer approach
to an equality of forces ; and though upon the deposition and
murder of Peter the Third, the Empress Catherine recalled her
troops (for she was by no means so warm an ally of Frederic's
as her husband had been, although, as Princess of Anhalt
Zerbst, she had lived in his dominions, been received by his
Queen, and even owed to him her elevation to the imperial
crown),* yet Frederic succeeded in inducing Czernitzcheff to
delay his march, until he had time once more to give battle to
Daun, whom he completely defeated at Burkersdorf. Sweden,
long since weary of the war, had found it imperatively neces-
sary, when Russia joined Frederic, herself to make peace with
Prussia. The peace of Paris, in November, 1762, which with-
drew England arid France from the war, left Frederic more than
a match for Maria Theresa ; she had therefore now no choice
but to submit to a peace, which left Silesia, the primary cause
of contention, still in the hands of her detested antagonist

* He had procured her selection as consort of Peter III., in order to strengthen
his interests in Russia.

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 273

Frederic, Austria as well as Prussia terribly impoverished in
men and money.

Thus was dissipated "what Chatham termed, with some
exaggeration, the most malignant confederacy that ever yet has
threatened the independence of mankind," * and thus termi-
nated the most extraordinary struggle ever, perhaps, chronicled
in history, in which the genius of one man supplied to Prussia
the place of troops, resources and allies ; and in which, also,
though constantly contending with a heavy numerical supe-
riority, in twelve pitched battles Frederic was only three times
completely defeated.f

One great secret of his success, no doubt, was the kindly
familiarity with which his troops regarded him. There is some-
thing very pleasant in the friendly relation which existed between
Frederic and his men all through the long campaigns of this
war. He commonly addressed them as his ec children/' and in
reply they termed him " Fritz," or " alter Fritz." When on a
weary march the soldiers fell out of rank, the King's " Gerade,
Kinder, Gerade ! " would not unfrequently be replied to, by
"Auch Fritz gerade, und die Stiefel in die Hohe ! " J The
womanly kindness which many a wounded soldier received at
his hands, had greatly endeared him to these rough children of
his. His affectionate attention and respect for the venerable

* See Lord Mahon's " History of England, from 1713 to 1789."
f It is remarkable that in each of these defeats Frederic carried out an error of
judgment with a persistence which looks like infatuation. At the battle of Kollin
he suddenly changed a plan which was leading him to victory, and forced Prince
Moritz of Dessau, at the sword' s-point, to carry out the new dispositions, despite
his urgent remonstrances. At Hochkirch, Keith (a Scotchman, brother of the
Lord Marischal), said that if the Austrians did not attack, they " deserved to be
hanged." Yet Frederic suffered them to surprise his troops in their sleep. At
Kunersdorf the Russians were already defeated, when, notwithstanding the ex-
haustion of his soldiers, from the violent heat as well as the foregoing conflict, he
forgot to make a golden bridge before a flying foe, and, despite the remonstrances
of the gallant Seydlitz, led them on to renew the engagement, was met by a fresh
body of troops, and entirely defeated.

J "Straight, children, straight!" "Fritz straight, too, and pull your
boots up ! "

274 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Ziethen, his " old father," as he called him, is likewise a truly
pleasant feature in Fredericks character, amidst these stern
scenes of blood and war.*

Whilst these events were passing in the field, it may be
imagined what anxiety prevailed in the minds of the royal
family of Prussia at home. The enemy did not march upon
Berlin immediately after the battle of Kiinersdorf, as had been
expected, nor was it until October, 1760, that Tottleben
and Lacy approached the capital. Elizabeth Christina heard
with regret, from her retreat at Magdeburg, of the havoc which
their barbarous troops had committed at Charlottenburg, and of
the desecration of those quiet shades at Schonhausen, where,
having dismissed her train, she used to find the company of a
book and the music of the nightingales, such a pleasant ex-
change for the society of the Court.f Still this was but a
trifling grievance, compared with the other terrible evils of war.
Nor could the jocund news of triumph after triumph, which
made the hearts of the Magdeburgers to " bound " when they
" heard couriers arriving in constant succession, each bringing
the news of some fortress taken, some victory won/' J silence
the voice of distress amongst the people, and of grief amongst
the bereaved. The population of Berlin itself had been reduced

* One night after a battle the old man fell asleep beside a camp fire ; the King
watched his slumbers well pleased, and said to the officer who brought him a mes-
sage, "Hush! don't wake Ziethen, he is tired, " whilst he smiled his approbation of
the trooper who gently placed a log under the slumbering veteran's head. One
day, long after peace was restored, Ziethen, then a very old man, came into the
audience chamber ; as soon as the King saw him he went to him, saying, "I am
sorry you have come up all these steps, I would rather have come to you." He
then ordered a chair to be brought for his old friend, and, on Ziethen declining to
sit in his presence, he said, ' ' Sit down, old father, sit down, or I shall leave the
room sooner than inconvenience you."

*h Letter from Elizabeth Christina to her brother, 1756. "I live very tran-
quilly here ; if it is too hot, I take a book and go into the little wood ; the com-
pany of books is better than that of my train, who have only to do what they
please and not trouble themselves about me. " ' ' We occasionally breakfast in one
of the new summer-houses, where nothing is to be heard but the nightingales and
the murmur of the water.1'

J Rotger. SeePreuss, "Lebens Geschichte."

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 275

by nearly one-tenth in the course of the war, and a very large
proportion of those who remained were in a state of beggary.
Elizabeth Christina found but too heavy a call upon the muni-
ficence of her ever ready hand, both here and at Magdeburg,
and at both places she was looked up to with a species of loving
veneration. When permission came from the King for the
Queen and royal family to return to the no longer insecure
capital, the people of Magdeburg, though they shared their
benefactress's joy that she was about to return to her home,
assembled to witness her departure with regret ; but a pro-
portionate degree of rejoicing prevailed at Berlin. The preacher
K iister bears witness to the noble example set by the Queen's
conduct during those times of trial. " Never," said he, " shall I
forget those stormy Magdeburg hours, in which Her Majesty,
during the war, set an example of the highest piety and most
heroic confidence in God. When the prudent and the cowardly
trembled, she alone was unshaken in her glad hope for the
future." " God preserve the mother of this land, who prayed
for us in time of need ! " said the sermon on the restoration of
peace ; and who can tell how much the prayers of that gentle
and righteous woman availed in her husband's cause ?

Great, indeed, was her thankful delight, when her prayers
were answered, and her unshaken faith rewarded by the resto-
ration of peace, which was announced to her by a letter from her
husband, dated March 3, 1763, saying that he hoped to sup
with her in Berlin, before the end of the month.

The peace of Hiibertsburg was concluded on the 15th of
February, 1763. On the 30th of March following, Frederic
the Great once more re-entered his capital ; and, to add to the
heartfelt delight of the Queen, the same carriage which brought
the man who was dearer to her than the whole world besides,
contained also him who held the next place in her heart — her
noble brother Ferdinand, seated in the place of honour beside
the King whom he had so gloriously served.

The people crowded the roads, and waited at the gates from
early morning until night, when Frederic at last arrived ; but

T 2

276 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

the enthusiastic shouts that greeted his appearance seemed to
wake an echo of past suffering in every heart. It was six years
since the King had last set foot in his capital j he had visited
Kunersdorf by the way, and his heart was thronged by painful
remembrances. He had written to his old friend D'Argens,
shortly before, "I, a poor old man, return to a town, of which
I know nothing save the walls, where I meet none of my ac-
quaintances, where innumerable labours await me, and where,
in a short time, I must lay my old bones in a resting-place
which neither war, sorrow, nor wickedness can disquiet." It
was with feelings of a very mingled nature, therefore, that he
returned the greetings of his subjects. Shortly after his return
he ordered Graun's Te Deum to be performed in the chapel at
Charlottenburg. It was supposed that the whole Court would
be present, but, contrary to all expectation, Frederic entered
the chapel alone, sat down and covered his face with his hands,
and thus remained during the whole of the performance.

The years which followed were indeed a period of blissful
quiet, after the storms which had convulsed not only the
bounded horizon of Prussia, but that of both the eastern
and western hemispheres besides. I have little of interest
to relate with regard to the uneventful life of Elizabeth
Christina after this time. The two journeys to Magdeburg
were the only occasions on which she left the walls of
the capital to travel a greater distance than to Schonhausen
during the whole period of her married life. She had enter-
tained a great desire to go to Brunswick to see her sister Juliana,
whom she had not seen since she was a child, before her Danish
marriage in 1759, but she would not ask the King, for fear of
annoying him : she never saw that sister again. She lost her
mother in the spring of the year 1762, and although she had
been long parted from her, it caused her bitter grief: still her
sister, the Princess of Prussia, remained to her, and on her and
her children she delighted in bestowing marks of her affection.

The marriage of her nephew, Frederic William, the crown
Prince of Prussia, son of Prince William and Louisa Amalie, to

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 277

his cousin, who was also the Queen's niece, Elizabeth Christina
Ulrica, the daughter of Charles, (now reigning Duke of Bruns-
wick,) and Frederic's sister Charlotte, took place in 1765. This
union, which seemed at first to promise such happy results, was
in the end fraught with the most disastrous consequences to
the unfortunate Princess Elizabeth. She was handsome in
person, engaging and graceful in manner, lively, high-spirited
and impetuous in disposition. There were materials of the fair-
est promise in such a character as this, but unfortunately the
very qualities which might have brought happiness to herself
and others were, in her, perverted by the most cruel of causes.
Nature had bestowed upon the crown Prince a far greater pre-
ponderance of matter than of mind, says the author of the
' ' Vertraute Briefed Frederic William was now twenty-one years
of age ; his disposition was good, but his capacity was slender ;
he resembled the Bruns wicks in person,* being six feet two in
height, and proportionally stout. But he was unfortunately ad-
dicted to the grossest sensuality, and his time, when not occupied
by his military duties, was spent with vile women and other
loose companions. His young wife resented this conduct in the
highest degree ; wounded alike in her wifehood and her woman-
hood, she not only separated herself from the crown Prince, and
haughtily refused him admission to her presence, but, alas ! she
sacrificed even virtue to revenge.f The crown Prince was in-
formed of certain of her secrets, by a mask, at a ball given by
Prince Henry on the 24th of January, to celebrate the King's
birthday. Being himself so immaculate an example of con-
jugal fidelity, he was violently enraged at the discovery, and
impatiently demanded a divorce. The crown Princess, on
account of her sprightly manner, intelligence, and amiable dis-
position, was a great favourite with the King, her uncle. He
had but little respect for the virtue of the female sex, and none
for the character of his sensual nephew ; he would fain, on all
accounts, have accommodated matters, but Frederic William was
urgent in his demand for a divorce, and, in the year 1769, a

* Thiebault. f Ibid.

MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

divorce was accordingly pronounced. The crown Princess laid
aside the title of Royal for that of Serene Highness, and was
placed under confinement at Kiistrin ; she passed the remainder
of her life here, and at Stettin. One of the Brunswick family
was the governor of Kiistrin, and his kindness much relieved
the dulness of her imprisonment. Still it was a solitary life
for a warm-hearted person like this unhappy lady. She had
always been very fond of dancing, in which her graceful figure
caused her to excel ; it is said that to wear out the tedious hours
of her solitude, she used sometimes to place all the chairs in a
long row in her apartments, and dance " Anglaises " between
them ; this, however, was but a sorry refuge from ennui.
Thiebault, from whose " Souvenirs " I have drawn most of these
particulars, says, that she once attempted to make her escape,
with the purpose of going to Venice, but the officer who was to
have been her guide, suddenly disappeared, and she remained in
imprisonment. It was reported at the time that she received
a visit from her husband after his accession ; the strictness of
her imprisonment was much relaxed after this epoch, and she
received permission to entertain visitors, and to walk, and ride
on horseback in the environs of the town. Mirabeau says that
her liberty was offered her, but that she declined it, preferring
to remain at Stettin. She died at this place, aged 94, in 1840.
Her high spirit seems never to have failed her, for the " Souve-
nirs " relate that, her mother having sent her a piece of
brocade for a dress, as a New Year's gift, the officer appointed
to collect the customs wished to open the packet, but she re-
fused to allow him to do so, and on his persisting somewhat
insolently in his demand, she gave him a hearty box on the ear,
which indignity so enraged him that he appealed to the King
for redress; but he received for answer, "that no man could ever
be insulted by a blow from the hand of so fair a lady," and had
to digest the affront as best he might. Unfortunately, the ruin
of this unhappy Princess drew down misfortune and disgrace
upon one from whom she would have given worlds to avert it ;
this was her brother, Prince William of Brunswick. He was a

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 279

young man of the most promising disposition and talents ; he
had been aware of his sister's indiscretions, and in his endea-
vours to screen her faults and defend her honour, he had him-
self become involved in the accusations brought against her ;
he was therefore ordered not to leave his regiment. This
injustice weighed upon his mind; he asked to be allowed to
resign his commission, but was not permitted to do so ; he then
endeavoured to occupy himself with the composition of a French
poem which he had begun, upon the conquest of Mexico ; but
the brand of dishonour was burning into his brain and heart ;
he now demanded permission to enter the service of the Empress
Catherine in the war against the Turks, and his request was
granted. Here in two battles he fought bravely, despairingly,
like a man who vainly seeks, amidst the shower of bullets, one
merciful messenger of death to still his pain. Covered with
glory, but broken-hearted, he found the death he had vainly
sought in the battle-field, from a fever, mainly caused by the
depression of his mind. Another of the Princess Elizabeth's
brothers, Frederic, is spoken of by Mirabeau as being much
given to intrigue, and as having vilely aided to publish the dis-
honour of his sister. Her eldest brother was that Ferdinand,
Duke of Brunswick, who, as hereditary prince, so much distin-
tinguished himself under the command of his uncle Prince Fer-
dinand, at Minden, and throughout the Westphalian campaign ;
who afterwards conducted with doubtful skill and more than
doubtful fidelity the French campaign of 1792; and who,
made eommander-in-chief by Frederic William III., upon the
strength, or rather weakness of a fallacious glitter of reputa-
tion, ruined the cause of Prussia in 1806, offering up his sight
and his worn-out life, a sacrifice to the genius of his offended
country, at Auerstadt.

This has been a long but a necessary digression from the
quiet and even tenor of the life of the gentle and virtuous
Queen of Prussia. To return to that theme, therefore. The
King was deeply affected by the fate of his niece ; with a
degree of feeling that did him credit, he wrote to his Queen to

280 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

take her infant daughter under her own charge, after the
divorce. " There is," said he, " only this poor child remaining
to her, and she can find no asylum save with you ; let the little
one have the apartments lately occupied by my niece of Hol-
land." Had Elizabeth Christina needed any impulse, save
that of her own kind heart, willingly to undertake this
responsibility, her husband's slightest wish would have been a
law to her; she therefore took the child to her heart, feeling
that though God had denied her the blessing of children of her
own, yet that He had now in an especial manner made up to
her for the privation, by placing under her maternal care this
doubly-orphaned child ; and, while she sorrowed over the faults
and misfortunes of the mother, she strove diligently to supply
her place to the child, and well and wisely did she fulfil the
duties which Providence had thus manifestly delegated to her.
The child, as it grew up, repaid her cares by a truly filial affec-
tion, and, in the course of time, when the Princess Frederica
of Prussia was married to the Duke of York, her letters
from England afforded one of Elizabeth Christina's greatest
pleasures. Queen Charlotte, of England, who owed her selec-
tion as the Queen of George the Third, to Frederic the Great,*
and who, at the time of her own marriage, had already had some
kindly intercourse of letters with the Queen of Prussia, whom
she much esteemed, wrote to Elizabeth Christina upon the oc-
casion of her son's union with the Princess Frederica. " If
anything could add to my satisfaction at the choice of my son,
it would be the lively interest which your Majesty takes in the
fate of this Princess, your pupil, and I assure you that a
Princess brought up under your eye, and to whom you render

* When the Prussian troops overran the Principality of Mecklenburg Strelitz
during the Seven Years' "War, the Princess Sophia Charlotte, then a young girl, was
so distressed by the sufferings of her people, that she wrote to Frederic the Great
in a manner which caused him to conceive a great respect for her mind and heart.
With his usual politic view of marrying German princesses to the rulers of
foreign countries, and thus introducing the claims of family connection, always
strong amongst those of German blood, he sent a copy of this letter to the young
King of England, George III., who had just ascended the throne, and who was

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 281

so high a testimony, shall find in me not only a mother but a
friend ; and I hope that in gaining the Princess's friendship, I
shall also gain a part in yours, which would be of great value
to me.v The young Duchess of York, in her first letters from
England, tells her great aunt how well Queen Charlotte had
kept this promise, in the motherly reception which she gave her,
how she had appeared touched at the Queen of Prussia's letter,
and with what delicate kindness a portrait of her more than

recommended to select a consort. George III. was struck, as Frederic, knowing
his character, imagined he would be, by the tone of feeling and good sense dis-
played by the letter, and he caused proposals to be made for the hand of the Princess
who had written it.

A copy of the important epistle which brought ' ' good Queen Charlotte " to Eng-
land, is subjoined : —

" May it please your Majesty, —

" I am at a loss whether I should congratulate or condole with you on your late
victory, since the same success which has covered you with laurels has overspread
the country of Mecklenburg with desolation. I know, Sire, that it seems unbe -
coming in my sex, in this age of vicious refinement, to feel for one's country, to
lament the horrors of war, or to wish for the return of peace. I know you may
think it more properly my province to study the arts of pleasing, or to inspect sub-
jects of a more domestic nature, but, however unbecoming it may be in me, I can-
not resist the desire of interceding for this unhappy people.

It was but a very few years ago that this territory wore the most pleasing ap-
pearance. The country was cultivated, the peasant looked cheerful, and the towns
abounded with riches and festivity. What an alteration, at present, from such a
charming scene ! I am not expert at describing, nor can my fancy add any horrors
to the picture ; but surely even conquerors themselves would weep at the prospect
now before me. The whole country, my dear country, lies before me one frightful
waste, presenting objects to excite terror, pity, and despair. The business of the
husbandman and the shepherd are quite discontinued ; the husbandman and the
shepherd are become soldiers themselves, and assist to ravage the soil they
formerly cultivated. The towns are inhabited only by old men, women, and
children, with perhaps here and there a wounded and crippled warrior, left as
useless at his own door. See how his little children come round him, ask the his-
tory of every wound, and grow almost soldiers themselves before they have judg-
ment to calculate the distress that war brings upon mankind. But all this might
be borne, did we not suffer from the alternate insolence of either army, as it hap-
pens to advance or retreat, in pursuing the objects of the campaign ; it is impos-
sible to express the confusion which those who even call themselves our friends
create, and those from whom we might expect redress oppress us with new
calamities. From your justice, Sire, it is, therefore, that we hope for relief ;
even women and children may complain to you, whose humanity stoops to
the meanest petition, and whose power is capable of redressing the greatest
injustice. "lam, Sire, &c."

— See Andrews' s Life of George III.

282 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

mother, Elizabeth Christina, had been placed in her room, to
greet her with the well-known smile on her arrival, and that
the sight of that dear face had moved her to tears, even in the
midst of her bridal happiness, as the thought of the happy
days she had spent under her aunt's care came over her mind.
Again came from Oaklands one telling how the Duchess
had "spent yesterday, Jan. 6, 1793, from 4 P.M. till 3 A.M.,
in the House of Commons," and that the eleven hours thus
spent had seemed to her like a few minutes, so absorbed had
she been in the interest of the all-exciting topic then undergoing
discussion, &c.

A very sincere attachment also subsisted between the
Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia and her aunt the Queen, and
after the former's marriage with the hereditary Prince of
Orange took her to Holland, her frequent and affectionate
letters proved with what interest the health and well-being of
this friend of her youth still inspired her.

In the year 1766 Elizabeth Christina lost her friend Madame
de Camas. This lady was also much valued by the King ; he
used often either to write to her, or to inquire after her health
by the name of " la petite maman " in his letters to the Queen ;
but her loss was principally felt by the latter, for they had had
a common feeling on the most vital of all points — the subject
of religion. The Queen afterwards spent much time in the
study of a book which had afforded consolation to the last hours
of Madame de Camas; in order to impress it more deeply upon
her mind, she began the work of translating it into French ;
when finished she had it printed, under the title of "Le Chre-
tien dans la Solitude," and dedicated it to her brother. This
was the first of the series of publications which emanated from
the pen of the Queen of Prussia, but she afterwards frequently
employed her leisure in writing ; chiefly, her works were trans-
lations of her favourite authors. In 1778, at the commence-
ment of the war of the Bavarian succession, she published a
pamphlet entitled " Reflexions sur PEtat des Affaires publiques
en 1778, adressecs auxPersonnes craintives." This little work

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 283

was intended as a call to rouse the patriotism of the people, and
stimulate their attachment towards the King.* Her writings
were generally signed " Constance/' in allusion to the name of
" Constant" borne by Frederic in his "Bayard's Order" at
Rheinsberg. A copy of each of her works was handsomely
bound and sent to the King, who allotted them a conspicuous
place in his library, and who in return always presented her with
a copy of each of his own writings as they issued from the press.

Frederic never visited the Queen during the latter period of
his life, except once a year upon her birthday, when he always
dined at her house, and for that one day in the year left off his
boots, appearing in black silk stockings, which, being un gar-
tered, hung in folds about his legs.f What a contrast was pre-
sented by the slovenly, snuff- besmeared, J stooping figure of
Frederic in his old age, to the gay young cavalier, so fastidious
in his attire, whom her fancy delighted to recall in the halcyon
days of Rheinsberg !

But although he visited her thus seldom, it was observed that
her happiness and welfare were an object of solicitude to him •
and that he was always anxious and uneasy if she was reported
to be indisposed. This was the case at the time of the visit of
the Archduke Paul of Russia, on his marriage to the Princess of
Mecklenburg, when the Queen was ill and unable to receive
them : on another occasion when he heard that she was seriously
unwell, he wrote instructions to his own medical man to go to

* She translated also the "Odes," and some other poems of Gfellert, and
several other works.

t Thiebault.

J Frederic took snuff in immense quantities in his old age ; his valets-de-
chambre were said to gain a considerable perquisite by shaking it from his
handkerchiefs and clothes. — Malmesbury's Despatches. When Dr. Moore visited
Berlin in 1779, he went to see Sans Souci ; he was asked if he would also wish
to see the King's wardrobe. On the display of "two blue coats faced with red,
the lining of one a little torn, two yellow waistcoats a good deal soiled with
Spanish snuff, three pair of yellow breeches, and a suit of blue velvet" for State
occasions, of remote fashion, but "still preserving all the vigour of youth," he
imagined that these "old rags " were considered interesting as relics of Frederic's
campaigns ; great, therefore, was his astonishment when told that, with the
exception of a suit or two at Potsdam, this was the whole extent of the King's
wearing apparel.

284 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

her immediately, and to take the opinions of two other physicians,
in whom he had most confidence, on her case, and also to re-
member " qu'il s'agit de la personne la plus chere et la plus
necessaire a Petal, aux pauvres et k moi."

Amongst the travellers who visited Berlin during the latter
part of the reign of Frederic the Great was Dr. Moore, the
English tourist. He thus describes a reception of the Queen
at Schonhausen, at which he was present (in 1779): — "The
Queen has one Court-day in the week, when the Princes, no-
bility, and foreign ambassadors wait upon her, at five o' clock.
After she has made the tour of the circle, and said a few words
to each, she seats herself at the card-table. The Queen has
her own table, and each of the Princesses has one. The rest
of the company shows itself a moment at each of these card-
tables, and then the attendance for the day is over, and they
walk in the garden, or form other card-tables in the other
rooms, as it pleases them, and return to Berlin at dusk. Some-
times the Queen invites a good many of them to supper, and
then they remain till midnight. These are the only assemblies
where one meets the Berlin ladies in summer." He also re-
marks, that the ladies of Berlin very much resemble French-
women in the ease and grace of their manners.

From the allusions to her debts in some of Elizabeth Chris-
tina's letters, it may have been gathered that her income was
not a very liberal one. Hence we find frequent allusions to
the sparing nature of these supper entertainments at Schon-
hausen, where the tables were so much more profusely supplied
with plate than with eatables, that people were obliged to sup
again on their return home. Thiebault says, that upon one
occasion the Marechale von Schmettau, who, as an invalid, had
been particularly recommended by the Queen to the care of her
attendants, only succeeded in obtaining one preserved cherry
for her supper ! Amongst strangers especially, it of course,
excited great surprise, that, these being the only Court assem-
blies in Berlin, the Queen should not be enabled to hold them in
a more splendid manner, and many were the jokes which arose

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 285

in consequence. " The Queen must have a grand gala to-
night," said Charpentier ; " I saw an old lamp lighted on the
staircase as I passed !"

During the latter years of Frederic II. 's life the economy
which he had found it necessary to practise during the stress
of war, had not only settled into a habit, but had degenerated
into absolute parsimony. He carried his saving propensities to
almost as great an extent of eccentricity as his father had done ;
upon state entertainments, says Malmesbury, he not only pre-
scribed the number and quality of the dishes, but even gave
directions for the number and size of the wax-candles to be
employed, " so great was his Prussian Majesty both in small and
great affairs." Malmesbury himself (then Mr. Harris,) saw the
King, at an entertainment given on occasion of the Prince of
Dessau's marriage, engaged ' ' in directing the servants in light-
ing up the ball-room, and telling them where and how to place
the candles, whilst during the performance of this operation the
Queen and the royal family were waiting, literally in the dark,
as His Majesty did not begin this ceremony until supper was
finished, and no one presumed to give orders that it should be
done ;" " all the other apartments, except those immediately
dedicated to supper or cards, were lighted by one single candle,
whilst the supper itself was badly served, and without dessert,
the wines bad, and the quantity of them stinted ; I asked, after
dancing, for some wine and water, and was answered, ee The
wine is all gone, but you can have some tea." And these petty
savings were not carried on only in the private circle of the
royal family, or in " public entertainments where such restric-
tions might be allowable, but in those at which foreign minis-
ters and strangers were received."

The same author states that the King's economy very much
restricted his hospitality, even to his own family ; thus, when
the Queen Dowager of Sweden — once "les beaux yeux"* of

* "Les beaux yeux" was now an old woman, and, according to Thiebault,
though an amiable, not an inviting person ; but she was accompanied by a very

286 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Seckendorf Js journal, the fair Princess Ulrica, whom we saw
weeping so bitterly on leaving her home for her distant Swedish
bridegroom and Court, — paid a visit to Berlin during Harris's
sojourn there, the King, at the expiration of the time he had
allotted for the duration of her stay, told her how grieved he
was to bid her farewell, and — discharged her temporary maitre
de cuisine !

But " great " as his Prussian Majesty "was in little things,"
we can carry no further, with regard to him, the quotation of
his remark upon his grandfather, for he was never " little in
great ones." He had returned to Berlin, after the close of the
Seven Years' War, in many respects an altered man. Privation
and hardship seem, from his youth up, to have had a peculiarly
hardening and narrowing effect upon his disposition. We find
him in his old age confirmed in his selfishness ; suspicious even
of the intimate associates and, so called, friends of years;
capricious, irritable, sarcastic and heartless in his intercourse
with them ; artfully drawing them into some injudicious ex-
pression of opinion, some too gross flattery, in order to turn it
against them, and insult them vilely, whilst they dared make
no reply. Even D'Argens, the tried friend of thirty years, met
with the most biting sarcasms, the cruellest slights, from him.

charming and beautiful young princess, her daughter, who was said strikingly to
resemble the portraits of the beautiful Queen Sophia Charlotte. During their
visit, Formay, the author of "Mem. d'un Citoyen," one of the pastors of the
French colony, a "licensed chatterbox," but most terribly indiscreet and devoid
of tact in his chatterings, on the Queen of Sweden asking him whether he was
going to the play, replied that he had no ticket. She soon after sent him one by
the hands of her fair young daughter, and Formay, to the great amusement of all
present, exclaimed with empressement, ' ' Que le bon Dieu vous le rende dans son
saint paradis !" Thiebault relates, that the Queen of Sweden having a desire to
put the astonishing powers of the visionary Swedenborg (then Conseiller des mines
in Sweden), to the test, asked him to repeat to her the words which had passed
between her and her brother, Prince William at their last interview, and which
were known to no other living person. After a short interval he repeated to
her the very words which her brother had said to her, together with the
exact circumstances, place and time of the interview. — Souvenirs de Vingt
Ans.

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 287

The only person who seems to have received constant and
unvarying kindness at his hands was his sister Amelia ; whether
this might have been, as Thiebault suggests, from a tender
desire to make up to her the long years of trial and sorrow she
had endured on account of her unfortunate attachment to
Baron Trenck, it is difficult to say. The above-mentioned
author gives a somewhat detailed account of this mysterious
affair ; but a brief summary is all that my space admits of
here, and I must add that Thiebault cannot always be relied
upon for perfect accuracy. He says that the Swedish proposals
of marriage were at first intended for the Princess Amelia, but
that she having conscientious scruples, on the score of the
necessary change of religion, acquainted her sister Ulrica with
her repugnance to the proposed union. The Princess Ulrica
advised her to assume the appearance of caprice and hauteur,
which advice she followed, and it having been part of the
Swedish ambassador's instructions to observe both the Prin-
cesses, especially with regard to manner and temper, he
transferred the suit to Ulrica, and she, having no religious
scruples, accepted willingly. Her sister Amelia, notwithstanding
her own professed dislike to the match, was greatly incensed
at this transfer, and out of pique, on the occasion of her sister's
marriage, bestowed a scarf on the handsome young Trenck,
who had had the gold fringe stolen from his, in the crowd.
Trenck reciprocated the inclination manifested for him by the
Princess; their interviews were carried on clandestinely, but
rumours of what was going on reached the King's ears. Trenck
was put under military arrest time after time, as a quiet means
of marking the King's displeasure. But the lovers were too
blinded by passion to take the intended hint. The King then
sent Trenck on a mission to Vienna, in order to remove him
from the vicinity of the Princess ; but on his return, his visits
to her were resumed. The King's anger was roused at this per-
sistence in folly. He said to Trenck, when he presented himself
on his return, " Where were you before you started ? " " Under

288 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

arrest, your Majesty." " Indeed ! then return to arrest." At
length Trenck was imprisoned on a charge of having betrayed
the plans of Prussian fortresses to Austria. On this, his
mother applied to Frederic, who told her that if the young man
would return to his proper duties, his case was not desperate.
But Trenck, meanwhile, had made his escape from confinement,
by leaping from the prison walls, and then carrying the com-
panion of his flight, (who had his leg broken in the fall,) upon
his back, past the Prussian frontiers. He was incautious in
speech and behaviour after his escape ; suffered himself to be
seized upon Prussian ground, and was again and more strictly
imprisoned. He was afterwards set at liberty, by the interces-
sion of the Empress Maria Theresa.*

Grief and disappointment at the unhappy results of her ill-
omened passion seem to have partially disordered the rnind of
the Princess Amelia. She fell ill, and is said wilfully to have
misapplied the remedies prescribed by her medical attendants, so
that she nearly lost her sight in consequence. Thiebault and
Wraxhall describe her appearance as something frightful ; her
eyes were nearly " starting from her head ;" her palsied limbs
appeared as if they could scarcely support her attenuated body,
her voice was hollow and sepulchral. Her disposition also
seems to have been completely altered. She had not a good
word to say of any one. Prince Henry used to call her " la
fee malfaisante." We are led to conclude that her mind must
have been shaken, from various circumstances. At the time that
the royal family were necessitated to escape to Magdeburg in
such haste that the court-yard was strewn with all sorts of pre-
cious articles, hurriedly flung from the windows, because there
was no time to remove them in any other way, the Princess

* Trenck afterwards married ; lie is said to have forced Ms bride, on the night
of the wedding, to confess some indiscretion of which he had heard she had been
guilty, by threatening to shoot her on the spot if she did not ; but he proved a
very affectionate husband afterwards. He and the Princess Amelia met but once
after his liberation, in the old age of both. Trenck was guillotined during the
revolution in France.

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 289

Amelia appeared " glittering with diamonds and radiant with
joy." Her most intimate friend, Madame de Kleist, was
obliged to remain at Berlin with her sick mother. "What,"
said the Princess, " are you not going with us ?" t( My mother
is ill, and I cannot leave her," said her friend. " But, my dear,
these Russians are savages, they will pillage and burn every-
thing ; they will certainly kill you, and your death will not save
your mother." Madame de Kleist still replied, that, do what
they would, she could not leave her mother. "If it be so,"
said the Princess, " I shall see you no more, so adieu, my dear
friend!"*

It is said that during the Seven Years' War, she used to pass
day after day in having the fortune of the cards f consulted for
her brother, who, though he was by far too rational and philo-
sophical to believe in a revealed religion, appears to have been
not altogether superior to the influence of superstition. The
Princess was much disliked at Berlin, and was looked upon as
the King's spy. Her brother, however, constantly showed her
the kindest consideration in all imaginable ways during the
whole of his reign. She died in 1787, aged sixty-four. After
the peace of Hubertsburg, although Frederic kept a vigilant eye
upon the proceedings of the foreign Powers, he had no call to
divert his attention from the internal administration of his king-
dom, until the Russian designs upon Poland roused him to put
in his claim for a share of the spoil. There could be no ques-
tion as to the admirable policy, nor as to the abominable morality
of this step, — but that was nothing to Frederic the Great.
Austria was obliged to consent ; and Poland, unhappy, rent by
divisions, ready for any one to pick up who would take the
trouble to stoop for it,J like a wounded fawn, fell a victim to
those fierce birds of prey, the double-headed eagles of Russia
and Austria, and the black eagle of Prussia.

* See Thiebault. + Ibid.

£ The Empress Catherine said of Poland, "II n'y a qu'a se baisser et en
prendre."

U

290 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

This was, or rather should have been, the Augustan age of
literature and science at Berlin. With a King who wrote
and a Queen who wrote, what could the subjects do but
write ? Nevertheless, the literature of Berlin was a foreign,
not a German literature. French was the language of the
Court, of the nobility, of the tradespeople; only the very
vulgar people, the canaille, spoke German, it was vulgar almost
to understand it : what did it matter that foreign French
is always barbarous, and that German French is particularly so ?
Frederic William tried hard, like a plain, honest man as he was,
to make his people speak their own language ; certainly the
half French, half Platt-Deutsch jargon he made use of himself
was not particularly elegant — still it was better than a wholly
foreign tongue, crippled and halting with bad accent and insuf-
ficient freedom, into the bargain, and his attempt does him
honour. Frederic II. spoke French and wrote French ; nearly
all his literati were French ; he allowed, indeed, that it was a
pity German was not more cultivated, but he did not cultivate it
himself; and therefore, as yet, the most enlightened Court in Ger-
many had no literature of its own. Nevertheless, though thus
neglected by royalty, the German language was about to assert
itself; close at hand was the rising of a glorious constellation
of genius, which was to claim for German writers a rank amongst
the classics of the world : Kleist,* the soldier poet, who defended
his mother tongue, by making it the medium for noble thoughts,
and his country, by laying down for it his heroic life, was one of
the forerunners of the advent of Goethe and Schiller ; and hence-
forward a long list of brilliant names graces the annals of Ger-
man literature.

But there was another strange feature apparent amidst the
prevailing enlightenment and intelligence of the time. Morality

* Kleist was wounded at Kiinersdorf ; he was plundered and stripped as he lay
in a trench ; he remained all night in his blood, half covered by water ; a party of
the enemy then took compassion on him, and gave him careful tendance, but he
died of his wounds ; he was buried with funeral honours, an officer in the Austrian
service laying his own sword upon the coffin.

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 291

had literally taken French leave. No one knew where to find
her in Germany, all agreed that she did not exist in Berlin.*
Frederic the Great did not much care for that. He had laughed
at both religion and morality in his writings ; if the plants liked
to grow in his lands, it was all very well j he would not interfere
with them, nor would he cultivate them. But religion and
morality are delicate plants, and will not grow without culture,
whilst all sorts of noxious and filthy weeds soon spring up and
choke them ; and so it was in Prussia, especially in Berlin. It
was fashionable to be irreligious, sceptical, atheistic — the King
was all these : it was equally fashionable to be immoral, sensual,
frightfully vicious ; if the King was not all these, at least he did
not disapprove of his subjects being so. But. by-and-by resulted
a consequence which Frederic had never dreamed of. There
arose an emergency, at the time when Austria endeavoured to
add Bavaria to her possessions, and Frederic found it good policy
to maintain the cause of the helpless heir-at-law, which rendered
it necessary for his armies once more to take the field. The old
King was ready as ever to lead his troops, but his troops were
not ready as ever to be led; they were either inefficient old men,
or else effeminate young ones, equally inefficient ; they fell off,
and deserted in multitudes. Frederic was amazed, confounded,
enraged ; f could this be the army at the head of which he had
performed such wonders ?

With all his genius and his wisdom, Frederic the Great was
not prepared to find, that, having sown carefully, and watered
diligently the seeds of infidelity and vice, the plants had sprung
up luxuriantly, and brought forth an hundredfold, corruption,
effeminacy, disease, and all other rank and baleful offspring.

So Frederic grew more distrustful of, and disgusted with
mankind, because he had helped to make them worse than they
were before, and betook himself more than ever to the society of

* See on this subject Malmesbury's Despatches, Forster's "Neuere undNeueste
Geschichte ;" Vehse's " Preussischen Hof ;" Von Coin's " Vertraute Brief e," &c.
t See " Vertraute Brief e."

u 2

292 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

his pet dogs ; sentimentalised over them when they died, and
wanted to be buried with them.* Doubts seemed to have
crossed the King's mind from time to time, whether he might
not have been a better and a happier man, and whether Prussia
might not have been a better and a happier country, if he had
been contented to live like a Christian and a human being, the
husband of a loving Christian wife ; but he silenced the doubts,
and those who aroused them by saying, " It is too late now."f
And so, worn out by old age, hard service, gout and dropsy, and,
as he wrote to his sister Amelia, "forsaken by all the world," J
Frederic the Great passed his latter days, cheered by no hope
beyond the grave to which he was declining, a much less
enviable man than the aged pauper in the workhouse, who finds
that " the Lord hath made his bed in his sickness," and knows

* The King always looked with suspicion on any one at whose entrance his dogs
barked or growled ; balls for them to play with lay about in his apartments ; the
curtains and furniture were always in tatters from the dogs delighting to tear
them ; they had a coach to themselves when the King travelled, and an attendant
who remonstrated with them courteously by the title of " Sie," when they were
unruly, as "Seyn Sie doch Artig Alcmene. Bellen Sie nicht so Biche !" When
any of them died, they were buried on the terrace at Sans Souci ; and Frederic de-
sired that he might be laid beside them.

t Madame de Kanneberg, the successor of Madame de Camas, remonstrated
with Frederic on his never showing his thankfulness to the Almighty by going to
a church. "It is," said she, "the only thing wanting to complete the reverence
with which your Majesty's subjects regard you." He replied, "Perhaps I have
been wrong ; perhaps, had I formerly had my present experience, I should have
traced out a different plan from that which I have followed, but it is now too late ;
any change would only produce grievous consequences, and no good could result
from it." Once also, when he gave his consent to the marriage of one of his offi-
cers, he spoke to him kindly, saying, "I too have a heart, but one must make
sacrifices when one is a king. " — Thiebault. Frederic always showed great respect
for sincere piety in others. The Queen's gentle but firm persistence in her reli-
gious duties, and her unswerving faith, were amongst the causes of his esteem for
her. Once, too, when he used some scoffing words to old Ziethen, about the
Sacrament, the venerable warrior stood up, bowed before the King, and said that
though he had fought for him, and was ready to lay his grey head at his feet, yet
he would not hear his Saviour blasphemed in his presence. The King rose from
his seat, took Ziethen's hand in one of his, and, laying the other on his shoulder,
said, "Happy Ziethen, I wish I could believe as you do ; I respect your faith,
hold fast by it. This shall not happen again."

J Malmesbury's Despatches.

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 293

that the holy angels will bear his spirit into the rest of them
fe who sleep in Jesus/"

Thus, unattended in his last moments by any female hand —
for " no woman approached his death-bed/7* and she who
should have received his last breath and closed his eyes on this
world, was left to suffer alone, at this unjust privation of
even the last sad privileges of affection, — uncheered by religious
consolation, covered with filthy rags, which he would not allow
to be changed, Frederic, the greatest King of Prussia, died in
the arms of a hired servant, and was succeeded by an heir who
squandered his treasures in riotous living, turned over the
government to worthless favourites, and prepared the way
for the dismemberment, in the next generation, of the king-
dom which it had cost so much blood and treasure to consoli-
date.

Very different were the last days of Frederic's gentle Queen,
who, like just Lot, " vexed her righteous soul from day to day
with the unlawful deeds " of those around her, and who inter-
ceded for her people unceasingly, that a better and purer
time might arise. She lived, indeed, to see the dawning of
that better time, but it needed many a stormy blast of adversity
to sweep away the pestilential moral atmosphere which reigned
in Prussia, and to substitute a freer and more wholesome cur-
rent of thought, principle and action, in its room.

The death of the husband, who, estranged, cold and isolated
in his selfishness, as he chose to keep himself, had ever been to
her the one star of her horizon, the thought of whom she had
cherished so fondly even in the midst of the most cruel neglect,
was a dreadful blow to her, although it had been long expected,
for she had loved too well and too warmly, to lose without
feeling that a dreary blank had been left in her life ; but she
was comforted by the warm sympathy of her family and of her
people, to all of whom, says Spalding, she was " so dear in her
affliction." How lovingly her thoughts still dwelt upon the me-
* WraxalTs " Memoirs of My Own Time."

294 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

mory of her dead husband, and how she strove to screen him
from reproach for his neglect of her, is shown by the letter, which,
nine years after his death, she wrote to her nephew, Frederic
William, his successor, in which she says, " Frederic the Great
would have been adored for his great qualities had he been
only a private individual ; all great Princes might take example
from him ; he reigned like the true father of his people. He
was a true friend himself, but he had many false ones, who,
under the mask of attachment, separated him from those who
were devoted to him heart and soul ; yet these deceitful persons
caused him sorrow when he discovered their falsehood, and he
rendered justice to his true friends without bringing them into
notice, lest he should expose them to persecution. He was
generous and beneficent, he maintained his position without
hauteur , and in society he was like a private gentleman/' She
saw her husband for the last time on the birthday of Prince
Henry, the 18th of January ; Frederic's death took place on
the 17th of August, 1786. He left an express provision for
the Queen in his will, desiring that, in addition to the income
which she already received, her revenue should be augmented
by ten thousand Thalers annually, and that she should be pro-
vided with wine, fire-wood, game and a constant residence at
her pleasure in the castle; he also required that his nephew
should render to the " Queen, my wife," " all such deference
and respect as befit the widow of his uncle, and the character
of a Princess who has never deviated from the paths of virtue/'
Her life was, perhaps, scarcely so retired after her husband's
death as it had been before. The new Queen was unfortunately
wanting in some of that tact which is especially necessary in so
important a station as hers, and " the Queen Dowager, who,
by her circumspection and natural dignity," says Mirabeau,*
" was of more importance than the Queen regnant," was often
required to disentangle the twisted threads of court etiquette,
or smoothe the ruffled dignity of some diplomatic functionary,

* " Histoire Secrete de la Cour de Berlin."

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 295

when Queen Louisa had unwittingly involved the one, or
wounded the other.

Besides such calls as these, the closest attention to the regu-
lation of her own household, and the exercise of the most active
benevolence, filled up Elizabeth Christina's days of quiet useful-
ness.* The French colony, says Erman, looked to her as their
benefactress, for it was through her intercession, and by her
hand, that all benefits reached them. Her own attendants were
the constant recipients of her kindness; her worthless old
chamberlain, Baron Mtiller, who gamed away all his pension
and his salary, and then begged, borrowed, almost stole, that
he might still game ; who said that if an angel offered him
health and youth on condition that he would play no more, he
should have gamed on nevertheless, could not tire out her kind-
ness by all his follies and all his vices. " Nay," said she, when
advised to dismiss him, " who will take care of him if I do not ?"
So she received his pension, bought his clothes, and allowed him
still a little pocket-money for the indulgence of his inveterate
habit.f She was always pleased to see the people enjoying

* Spalding says of her, after her death, "that her memory will always be blessed
as a touching example of the noblest mental qualities, the most enlightened and
lively piety, and the most wonderfully active benevolence." She regularly spent
more than half her income in charity ; the anecdote of the pearl necklace well
illustrates the self-denial, by means of which she was enabled to do this. The
Queen as a young woman was particularly partial to pearls as an ornament. A
very beautiful necklace was once sent for her inspection by her jeweller. She
much admired it, and wished to purchase it. One day in a leisure moment she
ordered it to be brought out to look at. "It is very beautiful; I think I must
have it," said she. "Why not, your Majesty?" said her ladies. "Surely you
who do so much for others are entitled sometimes to indulge your own tastes."
"No, no ; take it away, so that I may not see it; it pleases me, but I can do a
great deal of good with the money it would cost." She would never allow any
one to wait who required her help, if it was possible to avoid it, saying, that
"late help was often no help at all."

f Another of her attendants, the Obermarschall, Baron Von Voss, seems
to have furnished much amusement to the Court by his stupidity. Malmes-
bury says that when about to usher a stranger into the Queen's presence
his constant address was, "Perhaps Her Majesty will speak to you; in
that case you must answer her; and do not forget to' make her a bow
each time." Morian, of whom Malmesbury relates, that when Sir Charles Wil-

296 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

themselves, and gave particular orders to the gatekeeper to
admit them to her gardens. If the promenades were not, as
usual, thronged with citizens on Sundays or holidays, she was
uneasy until she had sent down to see that the man had laid no
restrictions upon their admission. It is pleasant to find her at
the advanced age of sixty-seven, replanting the woods at
Schonhausen, where the trees had been felled to sell, as timber,
during the strain caused by war upon the finances, because, as
she said, " though I shall never see the trees grow up, it will
please me to watch the young plants, and to think that it will once
more be as charming as it used to be, after I am gone." With
the same kind feeling, and desire to improve the country and
the people, she settled a little colony of Bohemian emigrants at
Schonholz, near Schonhausen, with dwellings rent free, on con-
dition that they should work in her gardens one day in each
week.

Beloved and respected by all, the latter part of Elizabeth
Christina's pilgrimage was peaceful and happy. She was sought
both by young and old; no young couple about the Court
esteemed the day of their union one of entirely happy auspices,
unless the good old Queen was present at the wedding ; no
christening was duly performed unless her prayers joined with
those of the pastor and parents, over the new-made Christian.
She rejoiced at the letter- that her great nephew, Frederic Wil-
liam, the crown Prince, sent her, to tell her how fair and gentle
a Princess he was shortly to bring home as his bride ; and
when Louisa of Mecklenburg Strelitz had arrived, and the
marriage was about to take place, all the company went to the
apartment of the aged Queen, to escort her to the White Hall,

liams wrote him a letter recommending Lord Essex to his attention, and conclud-
ing, "Vous pourrez etre sur que ce n'estpaslui qui a eu la tete coupSe dans le
temps de la Reine Elizabeth," and who accordingly presented his lordship to the
Queen with the words " Lord Essex, but I assure your Majesty it is not the same
who was beheaded in the reign of Queen Elizabeth ! " was not Obermarschall to
Elizabeth Christina, as the "Despatches" state, but to her predecessor, Sophia
Dorothea. — See Vehse.

ELIZABETH CHRISTINA. 297

where, seated, in consideration of her great age, she beheld and
blessed the union of her children, as she considered them.
She even joined afterwards in the celebration of the torch-
dance, though she begged to be excused from the succeeding
balls and festivities, on the score of her infirmities. She lived
to see only the beginning of that great continental convulsion,
of which the French Revolution was the first fearful spasm.
She wrote to her nephew, Frederic William II., then in camp at
Frankfort, having recently heard of the murder of the French
monarch — " 8th Feb., 1793. I am still stunned by the fright-
ful catastrophe which has taken place in Paris ; it is unheard of
that men should have been found atrocious enough to pass such
a sentence not only on an innocent man, but on their king, and
that no defence should have been listened to. I cannot think
of it without shuddering ; I hope and pray most earnestly that
God will assist your Majesty and your allies to bring these
maniacs to reason, and that an advantageous peace may result.''
On the 5th of March of the same year she thus again writes
to her nephew — " I must do the people of Berlin the justice to
say that they generally show themselves patriots, and truly de-
voted to you as their sovereign. One observes that the former
opponents of government are no more ; people are patriotically
disposed, and all is tranquil."

After the return of the King and Princes from the French
campaign, no further trouble chequered the peaceful days of
Elizabeth Christina until the intelligence of the death of Prince
Louis * reached her, and then she began to weep, saying, " I
have lived long enough. I have much to be thankful for; but
now my longer life would be but of little service to myself and
others. It will be better with me above." She was ill but a
few days. Her death was as calm and peaceful as her life had
been. On the day of her decease she bestowed her blessing
upon her attendants, saying affectionately, " I know you will
not forget me." On the 13th day of January, 1797, (the anni-
* Prince Louis died Dec. 28, 1796.

298 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

versary of the death of her sister, the Princess of Prussia,) at
the age of eighty-one, full of years and of honour, this humble
Queen and gentle woman went to her rest at length. There
were few dry eyes in Berlin that day. Kiister, in his funeral
sermon, said of her, " The voice of impartial truth renders the
deepest and most affectionate tribute of veneration to the long
course of truly majestic and noble deeds which her life dis-
played. I have been an observant witness of her conduct for
fifty years, and, from year to year, my reverence for her has
increased, and I thankfully praise God when I see how much
good has been effected by Her Majesty's example and active
exertions, both for the religion, education, hearts, manners and
happiness of all classes •" whilst Spalding says of ner that she
was "not only a Queen, — a great Queen, — our Queen, — but a
Queen after God's own heart." With these testimonies to
her worth and piety I terminate the memoir of Elizabeth
Christina.

LIFE OF

FREDERICA LOUISA,

FIFTH QUEEN OF PRUSSIA.

UPON the rupture of the crown Prince's marriage in 1769, a
fresh alliance was immediately sought for him amongst the
Princesses of the various houses of Germany. It was said that
he would have preferred his cousin, the daughter of the Mar-
grave of Schwedt, one of the most beautiful women in Germany,*
but that the lady declined the honour of the connection.
Another cousin was then proposed to him, Sophia Albertina,
sister of the King of Sweden.f Here, however, the objection
arose with himself, for he felt no prepossession in her favour,
and desired that proposals might not be made.J At length
the Princess Frederiea Louisa of Hesse Darmstadt was selected
as the future crown Princess of Prussia. She was the daughter
of one of the few women to whom Frederic the Great accorded
the honour of his admiration and esteem ; to her talents he
paid the most flattering tribute, calling her " the ornament and
admiration of the age," " a woman in sex, but a man in intel-
lect;'^ the Princess's father was Louis IX., Landgrave of
Hesse Darmstadt. But though Frederic estimated so highly
the character of the Landgravine Caroline, he did not regard
her daughter with any measure of the same sentiments. The

* Afterwards Landgravine of Hesse Cassel.

f Daughter of Frederic's sister, Ulrica, Queen of Sweden. She became Abbess
of Quedlinburg after the death of her aunt, the Princess Amelia, 1787.

t Wraxall.

§ He erected a memorial to her in the Schloss-garteii at Darmstadt, with the
inscription, " Foemina sexu, ingenio vir."

300 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

fresh marriage was solemnized so speedily after the invalidation
of the old one, that the sight of the Princess Louisa recalled to
his mind the disgrace of his unhappy niece, and excited a com-
parison between that Princess and her successor by no means
flattering to the latter, for she was possessed neither of the
beauty, the grace, nor the talents, which had made Elizabeth of
Brunswick so great a favourite with him. Nevertheless, she is
described as having been endowed with qualities of such sterling
value as ought to have atoned for all mere external deficiencies.
Wraxall says of her, " She is an amiable, virtuous, and pleasing
woman, possessing, indeed, neither the personal attractions, nor
the graces of her predecessor, but exempt from her errors and
defects. She is of the middle size, her countenance agreeable,
though not handsome, her manners easy and engaging, her
character estimable and formed to excite universal respect."
Those who knew her best, and were most constantly in her
society, described her as a person of rational and sensible views,
though not gifted with brilliant talents ; " her understanding
was solid, and her conversation was highly pleasing/' * She
was still very young, being only eighteen at the time of her
marriage in July, 1769. The fate of the unfortunate prisoner at
Kustrindid not afford a happy augury of Louisa's domestic future,
and from what has been already stated of the crown Prince's
character and habits, it may be inferred that he was not likely
to prove a good husband ; and, as Frederic II., moreover, made it
sufficiently apparent that he had no friendly feeling towards
her, having more than once mortified her in a public manner,
and carefully avoided showing her any of those marks of favour
and kindness which Elizabeth of Brunswick had enjoyed,t some
idea may be formed of the difficult part which the crown Prin-
cess was called upon to play. Her husband — had the Prussians
chosen their kings as the Israelites of old selected Saul, the
son of Kish,— might still have been selected to rule over the
kingdom, for he was a head and shoulders taller than the rest
* Wraxall's "Memoirs of the Court of Berlin," &c. f Ibid.

FREDERICA LOUISA. 301

of the people; but, goodliness of person excepted, he was no
way fitted to be the ruler of a great nation. He was wholly
given up to pleasure, and that of the lowest description ; so de-
based, indeed, were his pursuits and his associates, that some
persons even suspected the King of Prussia of wishing to be
followed by an unworthy successor, in order to endear his own
memory to his people.*

Malmesbury describes him as more resembling a stout grena-
dier than a great prince in his person, with nothing denoting
talent in his countenance or manner ; his bearing was deficient
in dignity, and he was reserved and silent; some attributed this
to the restraint under which he was kept by his uncle, who
despised him ; some to the fact that he had nothing to say,
since, even in the company which he most affected, where,
amongst his low associates he forgot that he was a prince,
he only testified his own hilarity by urging them to become
more uproarious. His faults, however, all seem to have been
of the head, and not of the heart ; he was naturally affectionate
and kindly disposed, and would not wilfully have inflicted pain
on any one, but so greatly, say the " Vertraute Briefe," " did his
body outweigh his intellect, that his passions ran away with his
judgment." He was incapable of exercising the smallest self-
control over his inclinations. Weakly good-natured, he allowed
those to whom he was attached, to rule him completely ; and
unfortunately, they were generally persons who made use of their
power to serve their own interests, and not those of the
country.

During the war of the Bavarian succession, it seemed as if
there might have been the materials for a soldier in him at
least. Frederic was pleased with his conduct of the troops en-
trusted to his command in the retreat ; he even embraced him
publicly, saying, "I no longer look upon you as my nephew,
but as my son, you have done all that I could have done — all
that could have been expected of the most experienced general

* SeeVehse.

302 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

in your place." But the King and his successor were men of such
totally different characters in all respects, that no good under-
standing could long exist between them. The crown Prince
was allowed bat a slender income, his irregular habits rendered
his expenses very heavy and he was constantly in the utmost per-
plexity for money. The King was well aware of these circum-
stances, and the auguries he drew from them, as to the fate of
Prussia under his nephew's administration were not far from
the truth. He said to Hoym, his minister in Silesia, shortly
before his death, " Farewell, I shall see you no more. I will
tell you how things will go after my death. It will be a jovial
life at Court, my nephew will squander the treasure and ruin
the army. The women will govern, and the State will founder.
Then go you to the King and say ' This will not do, the trea-
sure belongs to the country and not to you/ and if he is angry
tell him that I commanded it. Perhaps this may be of use, for
he has not a bad heart — do you hear ? " But Hoym was a
politic man as well as his old master, and he heard, but did not
administer this legacy of advice.*

Frederic William II. was forty-two years of age when he
ascended the throne in 1786 — a time of life at which he might
have been supposed to have outlived the follies of his youth.
Indeed, for a time people began to think that he had done so ;
he forsook his old haunts, punctually attended to business,
rising at four, and retiring to rest at ten. Mirabeau writes in
two of his despatches, " If he perseveres, he will be the only
example of a man who has conquered a habit of thirty years'
standing. In this case he has a great character, which will
outwit us all." But this fair beginning was but a delusive and
transitory appearance. There was no real change in the King ;
he soon fell back into his former habits, spent his days and

* Frederic the Great appointed Hoym to be his minister in Silesia, partly on
account of his insinuating manners, which gained him much favour with the
women; the flourishing condition of Silesia showed the wisdom of the selection
in other respects. — " Vertraute Briefe."

FREDERICA LOUISA. 303

nights upon his pleasures, and allowed the government to take
its chance, quietly turning over to his favourite, Bischofswerder,
any impertinent claims of business, or public affairs, which might
have interfered with his pursuits — and such pursuits they were !
For many years his principal female favourite had been Madame
Rietz ; she had pleased the crown Prince as Wilhelmina Encke
when very young; he had undertaken to educate her himself;
he had written a promise never to be separated from her, in
his own blood. Frederic II. insisted, either that his nephew
should give her up, or that she should be married, as a
cloak to the scandal which his connection with her excited : a
man was found vile enough to lend his name for such a pur-
pose, and she became Madame Rietz. Rietz was a mean, servile
wretch, kicked and cuffed, or treated with undue familiarity, as
suited the Prince's humour, and retaliating upon all whom he
dared to bully.* Madame Rietz is described by Malmesbury
as being " large in her person, loose in her attire, and spirited
in her looks ;" giving, in short, the idea of a perfect bacchante.
Von Colin says that her person was " faultlessly beautiful ;"
she maintained her empire over the King throughout the whole
of his life, perhaps because she seldom let him feel the rein.
For her alone does Frederic William seem ever to have enter-
tained anything like a true affection ; yet he was by no means
constant even to her. At the time of his accession he was
paying most assiduous court to the Fraulein Julie von Voss,
niece of the Queen Dowagers Oberhofmeister. She was not
handsome, neither was she clever; f her chief charac-
teristic was a sort of Anglo-mania, which made her think it

* A story is told of his once indulging in this propensity when on a journey ;
he railed and swore at everything and everybody at an inn on the road, where he
stopped at night, to the great terror of the servants, when suddenly the landlord's
deep, bass voice was heard exclaiming, "Who wants to give orders here besides
me ? The devil fly away with him ! Witt the shoeblack get into his carriage ? "
Not another sound was heard from the doughty Rietz; he crept softly into his
carriage, and there remained trembling in the dark, until horses were brought, for
him to continue his journey.— " Yertraute Brief e."

t Mirabeau — Dampmartin.

304 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

" absurd to be a German/' and gained her the name of " Miss
Bessy" at Court. Her attraction for the King, was — that she
received his advances coldly ; but she was persuaded by Count
Finckenstein, who wished to place her as a relative of his own,
in the influential post now held by Madame de Rietz, that it was
her duty to " sacrifice herself for the country/'' if by so doing
she could withdraw the King from the society of the unprin-
cipled persons who now surrounded him. At length, having
salved her conscience by the stipulation that the Queen's consent
should be gained to a left-handed marriage with the King,
Fraulein von Voss consented to listen to his suit, and to become
Frederic William's fourth living wife,* although he was no
Mussulman, and Prussia was not a country where polygamy
was recognised by law.

It seems strange that it should be necessary to commence the
memoir of one of the Queens of Prussia by the introduction of
characters such as these ; but, unfortunately, their history is so
mixed up with that of the Queen that it is impossible to separate
them. With these, and other rivals in her husband's affections,
it may be imagined how little power was enjoyed by the legiti-
mate consort of Frederic William II. It is true, as Wraxall
remarks, that if Louisa " had not captivated the affections, or
secured the constancy of her husband, she possessed at least his
esteem, and received from him every proof of respect." Yet
each of the women, who, for the time being, made a slave of the
sensual King, obtained far more influence, both over him and
over the government, than the Queen was ever, for a moment,
allowed to dream of exercising. Mirabeau says that "no Queen
of Prussia — of all Queens the least influential — was ever so un-
influential" as the consort of Frederic William II. During
the long period between her marriage and her husband's acces-
sion, she had constantly resided at Potsdam, in the most mo-
notonous and wearisome seclusion, neglected by her husband,
slighted by the King, and seldom allowed even the diversion of

* Mirabeau.

FREDERICA LOUISA. 305

a visit to Berlin. Her position was little if at all improved
after she became Queen. At the time when she held her first
drawing-room she had not seen the King for six weeks — not on
account of absence, for they were constantly within a few miles
of each other, nor of misunderstanding or intentional unkind-
ness, for he did not intend to wound her, but she was accus-
tomed to see but little of him as a general rule.

Her eldest son, Frederic William, was bora in 1770. This
event gave her some little importance for the time being ; her
mother was with her upon the occasion. We find the Land-
gravine writing to the King of the infant's beauty and preco-
cious intelligence, and relating his early juvenile exploits. The
child became a favourite with his great uncle as he grew older,
and he liked to have him near him ; one day, in his play, the
boy threw his ball by accident several times on to the King's
writing-table; it was returned once or twice; at last Frederic
put it in his pocket. The child asked for it, but received no
answer ; he then said, in a determined tone, " Will you give
me my ball or not ? " The King gave back his ball and said,
well pleased, " You will not let Silesia be taken from you."

After his birth his mother soon sank back into her former
unimportance, and thus matters stood on the death of the King.
Almost the first moments of her accession to the title of Queen
were distracted by the above-mentioned demand for her consent
to her husband's taking Fraulein von Voss as his second, or rather
se?m-legitimate, wife. It is easy to imagine the domestic posi-
tion of a wife whose husband would dare to allow such a pro-
position to be made to her as that on which the quasi virtue of
Fraulein von Voss insisted.

The unhappy Queen had no choice save to submit, but it was
a hard struggle, and it was long before she could bring her
mind to it. The Duke of Saxe Weimar, her brother-in-law,*
was entrusted with the honourable office of negotiator, and it
was observed that the King, after having received him with

* He had married her sister Louisa.

306 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

great cordiality, gradually began to treat him with coldness and
disfavour ; it was supposed, therefore, that he was either an
unfaithful or an unsuccessful ambassador.* At length, worn
out and disgusted beyond endurance, Louisa exclaimed, laugh-
ing bitterly, " Oh, yes ! I will give my consent, but it shall be
dearly paid for!" She therefore stipulated that the King
should pay her debts, which were considerable, amounting to
one hundred thousand crowns. f

During the progress of this disgraceful affair, the German
theatre gave " Inez de Castro," for many nights in succession ;
it was observed that the Queen, each time, retired during the
performance of the fourth act, where the Prince makes vows of

passionate love to the maid of honour. People wondered

whether this was accident or design on the part of Her Majesty !
" It is difficult to determine," says Mirabeau, " on account of
the turbulent and versatile, but not particularly weak, character
of this Princess, whether she acted thus intentionally or not."

The palace was in a wretched state of confusion, as may be
supposed ; the King left his duties unperformed, and every one
else, even down to the lowest functionaries, thought himself,
privileged to do the same, for the disorganization being radical,
there was no one head to look after the rest. The Queen's
household was as ill-managed as every other detail of the
whole administration; her husband had annoyed her by contra-
vening every arrangement she wished to make with regard to
it, on first assuming the rank of Queen. Her income was only
fifty-one thousand crowns per annum ; she was generous in her
tastes and somewhat profuse in her habits; this sum was
therefore wholly inadequate to defray her expenses; some-
times she was without even the most common necessaries.
Mirabeau relates, that upon one occasion there was no wood to
supply the fires in her apartments ; the steward of her house-
hold had recourse to the same officer in the King's establish-
ment, but he replied that his own supply was so limited that
* Mirabeau's "Hist. Secrete." t Ibid.

FREDERICA LOUISA. 307

he could not spare any. Thus harassed by petty annoyances
such as these, and constantly involved in pecuniary difficulties
in her own necessary expenditure,, whilst her husband was squan-
dering at least thirty thousand Thalers annually on one mistress,
and allotting a considerable income to another, she tried in
vain to shut her eyes upon the causes which were rendering
her wretched. Under such circumstances it is not strange that
Queen Louisa should have sometimes failed in the graces and
courtesies which should have embellished her demeanour in the
Court circle. Mirabeau makes harsh mention* of the uninten-
tional offence given by her on her first Court day, to Monsieur
d'Esterno, the French minister. The Princess Frederica of
Prussia, her step -daughter, had arranged the card-tables upon
this occasion according to the received etiquette, that the
Queen should play only with subjects ; but on being asked to
name the gentlemen who should form her table, forgetful of
these stringent rules, Louisa named the Austrian and Russian
ministers. Monsieur d'Esterno, considering that his own exclu-
sion ought to be resented as an insult to his country, declined
to seat himself at the Princess's table, and left the room.
Many were the consultations held on this important conjuncture,
for it was feared that the King would be very angry. Mirabeau
proposed that recourse should be had to the Queen Dowager,
but she was in the first days of her mourning for her husband,
and could not be asked to hold an assembly so soon. The
Queen therefore wrote a letter addressed to Count Finckenstein,
but intended to be read to M. d'Esterno, in which she ex-
pressed her regret, desiring that her " excuses" should
be made to him, and begging that the King might not be
informed of what had taken place ; but it was thought insuffi-
cient, the offence having been public, that the excuses should be
private. The ceremony of receiving homage shortly afterwards
ensued, and the affair passed off.

Unfortunately, amidst her many domestic discomforts, the
* He calls her "the most gauche Princess in Europe. — Hist. Secrtte.

x 2

308 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Queen had never learned to take refuge in the society and
education of her children, of whom she had now six, four sons
and two daughters; she was even much to blame for her
neglect of their education. The " Vertraute Briefe" give a sad
account of the mismanagement of these children ; I quote the
passage : — " Frederic William III. received the very worst of
educations ; so beyond all measure bad as only that of a crown
Prince can be. His father troubled himself more about his
illegitimate than his legitimate children.* They were left to
their mother. She, constantly embroiled with her finances,
often did not see them for days together ; they were therefore
left to the care of their attendants and of their misanthropic
Hofmeister Benisch." This man was an irritable invalid, and
if the young Princes ventured to become at all lively in their
amusements, he would exclaim pevishly — " You will kill me with
your noise ! how I am tormented ! would that I had never been
born!" and the like. Nevertheless, though placed under such
unwholesome and cramping restrictions, both of mind and body,
the young crown Prince, being gifted by nature with the most
singular sincerity and sweetness of disposition, developed, as he
advanced in years, a straightforward simplicity of character,
which not even the shyness caused by the wretched system of
constraint to which he was subjected, could subvert, and a depth
of affection, which the harshness of Benisch himself could not
prevent from clinging to him, and which no neglect on her part
could alienate from his mother.

The attachment also which subsisted between himself and his
next brother Louis was something beautiful to look upon. They

* The sum allotted for the maintenance of the household of the royal children
was, like the rest of the arrangements for his legitimate family, exceedingly
limited. Frederic William III. used to tell his children, when they received
handsome birthday presents, of the less costly gifts which pleased him in his own
childhood. "I used," said he, "to have a pot of mignonette worth three half-
pence on my birthday, and when Benisch wished to reward me, he would take
me to a public garden and give me a pennyworth, or if it was a grand occasion j
two pennyworth of cherries."

FREDERICA LOUISA. 309

were always together as children, and when they grew up they
were still inseparable. We find entries in the crown Prince's
childish diary of how, after lessons, he and his brother " went
to mamma, and were sent to play in the balcony," where he
related stories to amuse the younger child; of going "with
mamma in the carriage to a review," &c. ; but still the child
was too young to understand his mother's trials, and his loving
disposition afforded her then but little comfort ; but by degrees,
as he grew up, she learned insensibly to rely upon the quiet
strength and dignity of character which he possessed, and her
son became her best support under some of the heaviest trials
which she was ever called upon to submit to, towards the end of
her husband's life.

Towards the latter part of the reign of Frederic II., a sin-
gular, rather than new element had been actively at work in
men's minds throughout a great part of the civilized world,
especially in Germany. This element was superstition, which
at that time, as has been the case at intervals both before and
since, seemed to become a sort of mental epidemic. This
was the time when Cagliostro and the Count St. Germain were
exciting so great a sensation in England, and other countries,
and when Schropfer was raising spirits at Dresden, to the terror
of the presumptuous Prince who had dared to question his power
to make the dead obey the invocation of the living.* Probably

* Schropfer had been obliged to leave Leipzig, having offended Prince Charles
of Saxony. He then betook himself to Dresden, and his fame spread far and
wide as an alchemist and theurgist. Prince Charles became curious, and apolo-
gising for his former treatment of the ghost- seer applied to him to show him a
proof of his power. After much apparent unwillingness Schropfer consented.
The spirit summoned was to be that of the Chevalier de Saxe, the uncle
of Prince Charles. The Prince- and his attendants were then admitted into
a darkened room, the doors and windows were carefully secured; the adept
retired to a corner, fell on his knees, and began his incantations. Loud and
dreadful noises were shortly heard, as if in the air outside; this was followed by
a sort of musical sound like that produced by musical glasses : this Schropfer said
proceeded from his good spirits ; then arose fearful yells and shrieks, and finally
the door burst open, and a sort of mysterious dark ball or globe rolled in, in the
midst of which, the apparition of a countenance like that of the Chevalier de Saxe

310 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

the recoil of men's minds from the overstrained tendency to
scepticism and infidelity, which had lately been prevalent in
Prussia, may account for the fact, that in this country, an error
of a precisely opposite nature gained so firm a footing. This
was shown by the formation of various secret orders and socie-
ties, all inculcating more or less of mysticism, and belief in the
intervention of supernatural powers, and accompanied by
various mysterious ceremonies, cabalistic signs and strange-
sounding titles. The principal of these secret societies was
that of the Brethren of the Rosy Cross. They professed to
derive the wisdom and supernatural powers to which they laid
claim, from Enoch, Moses and Zoroaster, who, by means of the
Knights of the Temple, had transmitted it to their founder,
Christian Rosenkreutz. " They boasted/' says Forster, quoting
from Nicolai, that (< their doctrines chained heaven to earth, and
re-opened the barred road to paradise," and that the highest
representative of their order was the " master of nature reposing
in God the All-father." They affirmed that they were governed
by secret heads or fathers, who bore mysterious names, lived
in the most exalted purity, and enjoyed the power of constant
communion with the spirits of the departed, not to mention
that of making gold, and producing a wonderful elixir which
was capable of restoring to old age the vigour and appearance
of youth.

The Jesuits, then in a state of abeyance, made use of this
order to carry out their own views, and to endeavour to regain
some portion of their former power. The Freemasons, to whose
society both Frederic II. and Frederic William II. belonged,
showed a tendency to adopt many of the mystical tenets of

was visible, and a hollow, angry voice demanded, ' ' Was wolltest du mit mir Carl ? "
Prince Charles forgot his incredulity, fell on his knees, and called on Heaven for
mercy. All his attendants were equally terrified ; they besought Schropfer to
dismiss the apparition. He feigned to be unable to do so. At last, after re-
peated exorcisms, the spirit vanished; but hardly had it done so, before it
again burst into the room as before. Schropfer at last, however, succeeded in
dismissing it. — WraxaWs "Court of Berlin," &c.

FREDERICA LOUISA. 311

the Kosicmcians. A subdivision arose, which combined the
Jesuitical principle of implicit obedience to the secret fathers,
with the Rosicrucian Freemasonry. At the head of this party
were the Duke of Brunswick and his brother Ferdinand. This
was the aristocratic and exclusive section, which was regulated
by Jesuitical regulations, and directed by Jesuit " secret fathers,"
without being aware of the fact. In complete opposition to this
sect the order of Illuminati, which was professedly democratic,
excluding princes and rulers from membership, set itself up
to teach enlightenment and liberality of sentiment to all, and
especially to the middle and lower classes. This society, as
well as many others of a similar kind, probably owed its rise
to the manner in which Frederic the Great had entirely ex-
cluded the burger class from all share in the government, thus
leaving a large proportion of the intellectual element in his
kingdom, either to run to waste, or to strikeout anew path for
itself, which it was thus beginning to do. But so very liberal
were the opinions which this order professed, that certain rulers
began to fear they might at length include not only the institu-
tions of religion, but also those of temporal sovereignty, in
their ideas of illiberal restrictions upon the amelioration and
improvement of the human race. The Illuminati were there-
fore accused of treasonable practices and their order abolished,
whilst the brothers of the Rosy Cross became very powerful.*
To this society belonged King Frederic William's chief friend
and confidant, Bischofswerder, and his associate, Wollner ; and
it was through their order that these two men chiefly influenced
the King. Bischofswerder had been a follower of the Rosicrucian
Schropfer, who had made a disciple of the Duke of Courland,
and creditors of a great many persons of less note, and who,
having taught Bischofswerder his most wonderful secrets, —

* SeeForster, " Neuereund Neueste Preuss. Gesch." Vehse, &c. I have given
a short account of the distinction between the societies of Rosicrucians and Illu-
minati, because they have sometimes been confounded. Malmesbury speaks of
the King of Prussia as belonging to the latter order, whereas in fact he was a dis-
ciple of one of a very different tendency.

312 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

how to obtain the elixir of youth ; the manner of rendering the
spirits of the departed visible to the living, &c., &c., assembled
all his most curious followers and most urgent creditors at
Rosenthal, informed them that he was about, before their eyes,
to betake himself to the world of spirits, whence he would return
to bring wisdom to the former and money to the latter, and —
shot himself through the head !

Bischofswerder had become acquainted with the King whilst
he was still crown Prince,* and had been high in his esteem
ever since. He was not a man of great talent, nor of a malig-
nant disposition ; but he was ambitious, although not in the
usual way which leads men to grasp at office ; he was not an
avaricious man, but his wife possessed that failing, and he was
only her agent in many things which made him unpopular.f
But he had possessed himself of the key to the King's charac-
ter, and now exercised an extraordinary influence over him ; for
" out of sensuality combined with mysticism, nets so subtle may
be woven, as to be altogether indestructible to weak minds. "J
In the meshes of this subtle net, the favourite had contrived to
entangle the weak mind of Frederic William most helplessly.
The principal use which he made of this influence, at first, was
to attempt to displace Madame de Rietz, who had more power
over the King than he liked, and who laughed at the Rosicru-
cians and their mysticism. Once he seemed to be upon the
point of obtaining his end. The means he employed were very
ingenious ; Frederic William had hitherto been only a neophyte
of the order of the Rosy Cross, Bischofswerder now promised
to introduce him to the spiritual world. Forster relates that
the Prince was summoned one day from the side of his beloved
Wilhelmina, by Bischofswerder, who conducted him to a lonely
house in a remote part of the town. Here he was placed in a

* In the war of the Bavarian succession.

+ As for instance, in enriching himself with the plunder of the confiscated estates
in Poland, like Wollner and others of the avaricious Prussian ministry.
t Schlosser; see Vehse.

FEEDERICA LOUISA. 313

darkened chamber, where strange sweet perfumes, and low
sounds of wild, weird music stole upon the senses, and lent an
air of mystery to the scene. Here the Prince was asked with
whose spirit he would wish to hold communion, and suggestions
were at the same time artfully made to guide his selection to
the shade of either Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher Leibnitz,
or the great Elector, for which three personages suitable apparel,
&c., had been prepared; but if he had not been content to behold
the spirit of either of these great men, with rare ingenuity the
performers were ready to make the same wig, crown and robes,
serve for Louis XIV., Charlemagne, or Aristotle !

Having expressed his wish to hold intercourse with the spirit
of his great ancestor, after the performance of many cabalistic
ceremonies, accompanied by formulas of conjuration, of uncouth
sound, the Prince was left alone for a considerable time, to
await the appearance of the spirit. Frederic William was phy-
sically brave, but, like many men of his type, spiritual terrors
daunted him completely ; his nerves were therefore wrought up
to the highest state of tension by this period of suspense, and
when a shadowy form gradually developed itself before his eyes,
his courage gave way altogether ; he had been told that he
might question the illustrious shade, but his trembling lips
refused to frame a sound ; and when the spectre proceeded to
utter, in hollow tones, harsh reproaches upon his mode of life,
and commands to forsake his paramour Madame de Rietz, his
strength failed, his knees knocked together, a cold sweat bathed
his forehead, and Bischofswerder was obliged to leave his post
behind the scenes, and conduct him half-dead with terror to his
carriage ; he asked to be taken back to his beloved, to recover
from his exhaustion, but Bischofswerder would not listen to his
request ; it was now night, and he was conveyed to the Assem-
bly of the Brotherhood, where he was induced to take the
oaths, and promised to give up Madame de Rietz. This pro-
mise was not kept very long, but it greatly incensed that lady
against Bischofswerder. She endeavoured frequently to over-

314 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

throw him, but this was the only point upon which her influence
was insufficient to rule Frederic William ; he always reply-
ing— " No, no, not Bischofswerder ; I will not listen to that."*
At last she dared not even mention him. Each finding the
other's position impregnable, the two adversaries changed their
tactics, and made an alliance. Their power over the King then
became boundless.

During the last reign the King was everything, the ministers
nothing. The case was exactly reversed in the new admi-
nistration— the King was nothing, the ministry all-powerful.
Hertzberg was the leader of the Prussian Cabinet during the
first part of Frederic William's reign ; he was a man of great
ability and of upright views, but he wished to ally Prussia with
France, to take a threatening position towards Austria and
Russia, the growing power of which latter State he dreaded, and
to give a constitution to Poland. Bischofswerder, on the con-
trary, was well disposed towards Austria, and wished to enrich
himself by the plunder of Poland (for the cupidity of her
powerful neighbours was once more contemplating a fresh dis-
memberment of that hapless country). Consequently Hertz-
berg was thwarted and insulted into giving in his resignation
in 1791, and thus Prussia lost the only sound and vigorous
member of the Cabinet. Bischofswerder, although apparently
taking no share in the government, was now the virtual King*
of Prussia — except that his wife governed him ! Next to him in
power was his dependent Wollner, " the little king," as he was
called — a vulgar man, who made religion a cloak for his am-
bition : he regulated the administration of the interior. Luc-
chesini, a man devoid of principle, and Haugwitz, the humble
servant of Madame de Rietz, had also considerable influence in
their respective positions ; if any of the other ministers ventured
to oppose their views, or to offer advice to the King, he com-
plained to Bischofswerder, and was answered, " Good God ! is
not your Majesty King ? "

* "VertrauteBriefe."

FREDEEICA LOUISA. 315

But even this was not the lowest debasement of the Govern-
ment at this unhappy period. A crowd of needy sycophants
obtained place in the lower offices, and a considerable degree
of power besides at Court ; the most important papers lay open
to the discretion of the valets, says Mirabeau, and though they
dreaded the King's violence, they were the first to laugh at his
incapacity. These people, with Eietz at their head, made a
market of place and title ; the first year of Frederic William's
reign was marked by the creation of twenty-three " new-baked"
counts, as the old nobility called them, many of them ennobled
"not by the King, but by the Kammerdiener ! " *

Meanwhile an era was fast approaching which imperatively
called for the closest attention from the sovereign of every State
in Europe, and summoned even Frederic William from the
attractions of his harem to the hardships of a soldier's life; and
here, though his campaigns were unsuccessful, that Prince shows
to the best advantage, for he was a brave soldier at least.

The commencement of the revolution in France caused a
speedy conclusion of the alliance, which had been so long in
contemplation, between Prussia and Austria, and the Emperor
and King Frederic William prepared for an attack upon
revolutionary France, in defence of her unfortunate monarch,
Louis XVI.

When Frederic the Great died, the Prussian army was famed
as the finest and best-disciplined body of troops in Europe. Its
rapid success under the Duke of Brunswick in Holland, when
in 1787 Frederic William espoused the cause of his brother-in-
law, the hereditary Stattholder, had no way shaken its reputa-
tion, whilst the general had gained a somewhat undue degree of
fame for his almost unopposed conquest. Therefore it was with
the most confident expectation and the most boastful expressions
that the Prussian army again prepared to take the field under
the same leader. France was to be conquered as easily as
Holland had been. "Do not purchase too many horses," said
* "VertrauteBriefe."

316 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Bischofswerder to Massenbach, " the comedy will not last long,
we shall be at home again in the autumn."

The King himself, accompanied by the two elder Princes and
Prince Louis Ferdinand (the son of Prince Ferdinand) left
Berlin on the 10th of June, 1792, in order to go to Frankfort,
the point of junction with his imperial ally, the new Emperor
Francis II., whose coronation took place on the 17th. The con-
sequences of the Duke of Brunswick's unfortunate manifesto,
and of his hesitation, whether he would fight for his master, or
befriend the republicans, if they bribed high enough ; the suf-
ferings of the Prussian army; the inglorious retreat, at the
moment when Dumourier, by anticipation, saw himself beaten,
and the enemy in possession of the capital, — all the events of
that campaign, whose only result was to teach the raw repub-
lican levies that they could fight as well as flee, are too well
known for it to be necessary to detail them. The journals kept
by the crown Prince and by Goethe, who accompanied the Prus-
sian army, furnish many interesting details of this expedition ;
the latter gives various anecdotes of the emigrant French
Princes, to whom Frederic William had afforded a refuge in his
dominions, and who now re-entered their country in the midst of
a foreign invading army. The effeminate habits of these luxu.
riou sly-nurtured Frenchmen were matter partly of amusement,
partly of disgust to the Prussian soldiers, who were suffering so
many hardships on their behalf. Goethe* relates, that the fact
of the King of Prussia wearing no overcoat, notwithstanding

* Goethe's " Campagne in Frankreich." " llth September, on our return
to our first quarters, we found a distinguished emigrant, formerly known to us.
He complained bitterly of the cruelty which the King of Prussia inflicted on
the French Princes. Startled and almost confounded at this, we demanded
some further explanation. Then we learnt, that on leaving Grlorieux, in spite
of the drenching rain, the King put on no great coat, wrapped no cloak about
him, and consequently the Royal Princes had also been obliged to deny themselves
these weather-proof garments. Our marquis, however, could not bear to behold
these illustrious persons, lightly clad, wet through and through, and dripping
with rain ; indeed, if it would have availed, he would have laid down his life
to see them riding in a dry carriage."

FREDERIC A LOUISA. 317

the torrents of rain which accompanied the march, — because he
wished to encourage the men, by letting them see that their
King would not indulge in comforts not provided for them, — was
resented as a personal injury by them. This, and other anec-
dotes of a similar kind, show that they were not men whose
valour in behalf of their country, was likely to excite enthusiastic
sympathy.

Frederic William felt that campaign as a sad disgrace. His
object in commencing the war had been a sincere desire to assist
the unfortunate King of France. He had written to the Queen
Dowager two days before he left Berlin, " That which alone has
induced me to commence this war, is the idea that it must tend
to the good of mankind, and check the frightful outbreak of
anarchy which has originated in France, and would at length
desolate all Europe." * Instead of achieving the end which he
desired, the measures pursued had but precipitated the cata-
strophe which he sought to avert. Probably had he trusted to
his own generalship, instead of that of his cousin, and passed
on to Paris, as he and the army wished, the result might have
been nearer the accomplishment of the views with which he left
home.

Frederic William returned therefore to Berlin, after rather
more than a year's absence ; and the marriage of his two sons,
who had been betrothed while at Frankfort, to the two sister
Princesses of Mecklenburg- Strelitz, followed very shortly after-
wards.

The King was once more called into the field before the
end of his reign, at the time of the insurrection in
Poland, in 1794. That country having attempted to secure
some little stability by forming a constitution for itself, the
great Powers on either side, roused by these feeble movements
to the perception that life was not as yet quite extinct in their
victim, resolved to settle the matter by a final partition ; this
plan was accordingly put into execution in 1792. The Poles,
* " Louisa Konigin von Preussen zum Deutschen Volke."

318 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

gathering energy from despair, rushed to arms, and headed by
Poland's last hero, Kosciusko, asserted their right to hold their
own towns, and to be masters of their own country. Frederic
William prepared to assist in subduing them, and marched to
Jbin the Russian army and lay siege to Warsaw. But the Polish
scythe-armed peasants were fired by a spirit which made them
more than a match even for the perfect discipline of the Prus-
sian army, and after a most inglorious campaign, Frederic
William broke up the siege and returned to Berlin, leaving
Suwarrow to quell Poland alone, and to wring at Maciejowice,
that last bitter moan, " Finis Polonise " from the great heart of
Kosciusko.

The behaviour of the Prussian troops in this expedition began
to show how well grounded were the apprehensions of Frederic
II., when in 1778 he " made peace, because he feared to be de-
feated and survive his glory;"* it was evident that the far-
famed discipline of the infantry and the wonderful manoeuvring
of the cavalry, which were trained to perform their evolutions in
almost as small a space as infantry, were in no way an indem-
nification for the deterioration, moral and physical, which the
army had undergone. Frederic II. had been guilty of a great
mistake in officering his regiments solely from the nobility,
because he considered the burger class wanting in cultivation
and honourable feeling ; and so it might have been, at the com-
mencement of his reign, but the liberty which he allowed to
the press, and the consequent diffusion of knowledge, had now,
in great measure, corrected this deficiency, and the burger
class would have afforded a large amount of efficiency and
talent. Besides, the officers whom he had formed under his own
eye were very different men from the young nobility who suc-
ceeded to their places, who, considering themselves born, as it
were, to promotion in the army, consequently took no pains to
fit themselves for their posts, but squandered their property,
and made themselves premature old men by their profligate
* "VertrauteBriefe."

FREDERICA LOUISA. 319

manner of life. Thus, while one officer employed in the Polish
campaign, "amused himself at the theatre,* another concealed
himself in an empty cask at his inn, on the approach of the
enemy, f and the rest marched where the enemy was not," J it was
not to be wondered at that the soldiers, with such leaders, should
have fled before the valiant sons of Poland, all bearing in their
hearts the thirst for vengeance on the persecutors of their country.
At Berlin, within the last few years, several disturbances had
taken place in Frederic William's polygamic family arrange-
ments. The Countess Ingenheim was remorseful and un-
happy in her more than doubtful position ; her health
gradually failed, and she died of consumption in 1789.
But a new and very beautiful claimant was ambitious of suc-
ceeding to her place ; this was a lady of noble birth and very
imperious disposition, the Grafin Sophia von Donhoff. She
insisted on the same conditions as her predecessor had done,
namely, the Queen's consent to a left-handed marriage ; and a
dowry. Queen Louisa was again insulted by the same extra-
ordinary demand as had been made upon her in the former in-
stance, and again yielded a consent, which would have been a
refusal, had she dared. But the new wife soon made it apparent
that she expected to rule as actual Queen. Her behaviour was
most insolent and audacious ; often did the eyes of the unhappy
Louisa fill with tears, as she thought of the gentleness of the
Countess Ingenheim, in comparison with the insults she was
condemned to submit to from this haughty upstart. And not
only did the Grafin consider herself called upon to govern the
Court, and oblige all but the Queen to yield precedence to her,
but she undertook to govern the State as well. She wrote to
the King, to threaten him that she would " give him up alto-
gether, if he entered with such levity upon so important and
difficult an undertaking" as that of the invasion of France.
"Either you must march at the head of 200,000 Prussians and
250,000 Austrians, or give up every hope of victory," wrote
* Schwerin at Posen. f Manstein at Kosten. ± See " Yertraute Briefe."

320 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

she. But .Frederic William did not approve of being dictated
to, and the endless caprices of the fair Countess at length
wearied him out ; he began to neglect her, and she began to
resent it violently. Her last interview with him was of a very
stormy nature.

The King had one refined taste, namely, for music ; he was
passionately fond of it ; he had in his youth played extremely
well upon the violoncello. One night, at a concert in the new
garden at Potsdam, the Grafin rushed suddenly, with dishevelled
hair through the assembly, and laid her infant at his feet, ex-
claiming, " There, take back your property ! " This scene, how-
ever, only hastened her downfall. After this period Madame de
Hietz, now the Grafin Lichtenau, still preserved her old sway
over the King, and more than her old sway at Court ; and, alas !
the Queen was still, either totally neglected, or subjected to in-
dignities which would have rendered total neglect preferable.
She was obliged to receive the favourite at Court, after her eleva-
tion to a title ; she even also presented her with her portrait set
in brilliants ; this was done by the advice of her Oberhofmeister
Wittgenstein, and her gentlewoman of the chamber, who had
obtained great influence over her mind, and who thus sought
to gain favour with the King.

A heavy trial, too, which she had but little anticipated, came
upon her at the close of the year 1796; this was the death of
her second son, Prince Louis. Her affliction during his illness
was terrible to witness, and upon his death she was almost
beside herself for a time. Her only consolation lay now in her
eldest son. The crown Prince had long witnessed his mother's
position with infinite pain ; he had seen her day by day sub-
jected, in her own Court, to humiliations the greatest that can
be put upon a woman, and seen it without the power of redress-
ing her wrongs, or aiding her in any way except by his silent
respect and affection. But when in 1793 he brought home his
own pure, young bride, and saw her from time to time exposed
to the defilement of intercourse with such a woman, the indig-

FREDERICA LOUISA. 321

nation which he had so long smothered, with difficulty, from a
sense of filial respect towards his father, could scarcely be longer
kept within bounds.

When the King's health failed in 1796, he gave himself
wholly up to the care of Grafin Lichtenau, who tended him with
an affection and fidelity that form a redeeming point in her
character. After his partial recovery, in the spring of 1797, she
had an opera performed in the new theatre she had caused to be
built, in her house, under the Lindens ; the piece selected was
' ' La Morte di Cleopatra," composed by Nasolini. To this per-
formance she, with the King's sanction, invited not only the rest
of the royal family, but the Queen herself. The invitation was,
in point of fact, a command ; and to this indignity also Louisa
was obliged to stoop. Dampmartin relates " that the Queen,
the crown Prince and his consort, as well as the other royal
Princes and Princesses, trembled with indignation at the humi-
liating constraint which made them the guests of a woman, whose
very neighbourhood they felt to be an insult. The King bore upon
his pallid countenance the tokens of mortal disease. The kind-
hearted Queen writhed her lips into a sickly smile. The crown
Prince could not conceal his violent agitation; he cast stolen
glances alternately at his tenderly-loved mother, and his adored
wife, as if he could not take in the possibility of beholding them
in the apartments of the mistress of his father." The Grafin
Lichtenau meanwhile, far more richly dressed than the Queen,
enjoyed the triumph of receiving the King's attentions before
her. "At some strophes of the opera," proceeds the descrip-
tion, " in which Octavia laments the infidelity of Mark Antony,
all eyes involuntarily turned upon the Queen, and she concealed
her face in her handkerchief."

There is nothing in such scenes as these which would lead
us to wish to prolong the review of them ; I therefore pass over
the festival given by the people of Berlin on the recovery of
Frederic William, " the much beloved," as they called him,
without further notice than to say, that the Queen pleaded in-

Y

322 MEMOIES OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

disposition to prevent the repetition of suffering similar to that
which she had submitted to on the occasion just described ;
whilst the Grafin Lichtenau appeared in classic Greek costume,
as Polyhymnia, and had the effrontery to sing, at the public
banquet, some verses of her own composition, in honour of the
King and of the feast.

This was the last public occasion on which the King was
present; his constitution was enfeebled by his excesses, and
his health soon again gave way ; symptoms of the hereditary
malady of his family, dropsy, again presented themselves. The
autumn of that last year of his life was a season of dreary suf-
fering to him ; his later days, too, were tormented by all kinds
of abominable empiricism, which deluded him with the vain
hopes of recovery by the use of sundry " infallible" remedies.
" From all lands streamed learned physicians, empirics, adepts,
magnetisers, and wonder-doctors," to Potsdam.* One char-
latan proposed that the King should recline upon cushions
made of the skins and various other parts of unborn calves.
When this disgusting nostrum proved useless, another quack-
doctor undertook to produce a certain "pure air of life,"
which would unquestionably restore him ; this pure ether was
to be obtained by anything but pure means, since putrid animal
substances were necessary to produce it ; he had his laboratory
in one of the palace kitchens, and so fearful were the odours
produced, that it was necessary to dismiss him.f A French
maguetiser then propounded a new theory, viz. that the
" principle of life " being exhausted in the King's constitution,
it should be restored by means of taking " electric baths ;"
listening to soft music ; witnessing the sports of young children,
kittens, or puppies ; having two children, of from eight to ten
years of age, to sleep with him, &c. &c.J But even this
remedy, though more agreeable than the others, and like them
duly tested, failed. The cold grasp of death was upon
Frederic William, and it was useless to struggle against it. In

! • '.". r '

* Vehse. f Forster. J Ibid.

FEEDERICA LOUISA. 323

this illness, as in his last, he was constantly attended by the
Grafin Lichtenau, who took up her abode close at hand (the
King was residing in the new marble-palace at Potsdam), whilst
the Queen remained in Berlin, and only came, at most, once in
the week to visit her husband. I quote the description of an
eyewitness of one of the last scenes of the King's life — " The
saloon was illuminated by the soft but melancholy light of wax-
candles, placed in alabaster vases. In the background sat the
King, his swollen feet supported by cushions, in a deep arm-
chair of green velvet, pale, emaciated, with labouring breath,
his dying eyes wandering hither and thither with an unsteady
gaze. Near him on the right sat the Grafin Lichtenau,
stroking his swollen hand. To the left the Marquise de
Nadaillac, whose sprightly amiability refreshes him. The
Abbe d'Andelard, Prince Meurice of Broglie, Saint Paterne
and Saint Ygnon, were also present ; the latter was the reader,
a jovial buffoon, who would have been better calculated to
amuse the dulness of the country folks than to make the sick
King forget his sufferings ; near the fire played the children of
the Countess Donhoff, the Graf and Grafin of Brandenburg,
whose education the King had entrusted to the Grafin Lich-
tenau. Between whiles the sick man sunk into an uneasy
slumber, out of which bad dreams again startled him. The
reader did not allow himself to be interrupted by this, and it
made a startling impression to hear Moliere's ' Malade Ima-
ginaire' read beside the suffering and dying King."

It was, indeed, a strange scene, and a strange lecture for the
last hours of a dying man. The King's state now grew worse
from day to day, but still the same little assemblies of French
refugees, by whom he had now been for some time almost
entirely surrounded, met at his dinner-table every day, although
he could not join them, but sat apart in his easy chair. At
one of these occasions, on the 12th November, the loud report
of a champagne bottle, amidst the stillness of the company —
for the King was too ill to bear to hear them talk — so startled

Y 2

324 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

him that he fainted, and was carried to bed. On the 15th, the
Queen and the crown Prince were apprised that he wished to
take leave of them. Even this last parting took place in the pre-
sence of the Grafin Lichtenau ; and Frederic William's feeble
request for forgiveness from her whom he had wronged so
much, was transmitted by the lips of the rival who had weaned
his affections from her all along, and who now, as she supported
him in her arms, alone was near enough to catch the purport of
those tremulous accents. The interview was short and painful ;
the King's weakness overcoming him, he signed to the Grafin
to conduct his wife and son to the ante-chamber. The Queen
was greatly overcome ; the great suffering and weakness of her
husband roused all the tenderness and forgiveness of her
nature, and she flung her arms round her rival's neck and wept,
sobbing out broken words of gratitude for her kindness to the
dying man. But the crown Prince looked on almost with in-
dignation, whilst his mother thus gave way to her feelings; he
could not forget even in that woman's devotion to the one
parent, the injuries she had inflicted on the other. When the
Grafin went back to the King, he asked her, " What did my son
say to you ? " " Not a word," replied she. " Not a word of
thanks ? " said the King, angrily ; " then I will see no one
else." When the Grafin by his order informed other members
of the royal family that the King declined to see them, it
excited against her much, in this case, unmerited indignation,
as they imagined her to be excluding them from the King by
her own authority.

All the rest of that day and night were passed in a fearful
conflict between Frederic William's natural strength of consti-
tution and the fell power of death. Awful were the convulsive
struggles of the death agony; the leather of the chair in which
he sat was torn to pieces by the spasmodic clutchings of the
sufferer. " What have I done to deserve so hard a death ? "
groaned he ; "I have always meant well by my people." At
length came the moment of release. At nine o'clock on the

FREDERICA LOUISA. 325

morning of November 16, 1797, Frederic William II. was
called to the bar of his Maker to answer for his own deeds.

But he went through the bitterness of death alone, with no
tender hand to support his head, no priest to speak a word of
comfort ; only unfeeling hirelings * around him. To one of his
valets he turned in his agony and desolation, and taking his
hand entreated him not to leave him in that last hour. The
companion of so many years was not with him at his death,
she had left him early in the morning to take a short period of
repose. She was roused from her slumber at once by the in-
telligence of the King's death and of her own arrest. That
had been the crown Prince's first thought on being informed
of the death of his father. Times had now changed with the
hitherto all-powerful Grafin Lichtenau. All her possessions
were confiscated and herself imprisoned, whilst the very men
whom she had helped to elevate to power, turned their backs
upon her in her adversity. She was put under slight imprison-
ment at Glogau, but allowed a pension, it having been found
that most of the charges brought against her could not be sub-
stantiated. Whilst there she commenced a process-at-law
against the King for the recovery of her possessions. Liberty
was offered her, on condition that she should desist from the
suit. She was accordingly liberated in 1800. She mar-
ried a young actor named Fontano, or rather Holbein, who
afterwards became celebrated as a theatrical writer. He forsook
her before long. She then went to reside at Paris. The Em-
peror Napoleon, when Prussia submitted to him, procured her
an indemnification for her losses. She died in 1820, aged sixty-
eight. Much might be said in favour of the natural disposition
of this woman, who played so extraordinary a part in Prussia.
She was generous and kind-hearted, and most sincerely attached
to the King ; neither did she make use of her influence over

* Beaumanoir says that one of his attendants had the brutality to exclaim as

the struggle still continued, " Cela ne finira-t-il pas, — il ne veut pas crever ?"

See Vehse.

326 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

him to provide riches for herself after his death. The accu-
sation which Frederic "William III. brought against her for
removing papers and jewels from the palace during the King's
illness was proved to be unfounded; and since Frederic Wil-
liam would infallibly have been always governed by female
management of some kind, he and the kingdom were in less
danger in her hands than they would have been in those of
almost any other person in her position. She possessed a very
uncommon power of attraction even to an advanced age. Her
journey to Italy in 1793 (which drew upon the treasury largely)
was a series of triumphs. She was received at nearly all the
foreign Courts she visited in the course of it. Several British sub-
jects of high rank * paid their addresses to her, but she remained
always faithful to her first love ; even the allurements of wealth
could not shake her fidelity. When Schmidt the "fat
Cupid " of Berlin offered her his hand and his fortune, she only
feigned to listen to his vows in order to induce him to go down
on his knees, a posture from which he found it impossible to
rise, on the King's preconcerted entrance, until his Majesty
called for a servant to help him !

The influence which such a reign as that of Frederic William
must necessarily have exercised upon the already corrupt state
of society in Berlin, may be easily imagined. The most revolt-
ing pictures are given of the vice which then prevailed. Town
and country were said to be alike depraved ; all ranks and classes
rivalled each other in iniquity. The facility of divorce had
caused the utmost laxity with regard to the marriage tie.
Matrimony had become, in point of fact, a merely nominal
affair. A married couple, who were attached to each other, were
looked upon as an anomaly, and held up to ridicule. The
female sex had sunk to the lowest state of degradation. In
short, Prussia, before she could be cleansed from her filthiness,

* Amongst these were Lord Templetown, an Irishman, but the King would not
give his consent to the marriage, and the fiery lover soon quarrelled with his lady.
Lord Bristol, Bishop of Londonderry, was also her devoted admirer : she had
various offers from other distinguished foreigners.

FREDERICA LOUISA. 327

required to be passed " seven times" through the fire; and this
refining process was now shortly to be accomplished.

But though Frederic William did not forward the cause of
morality, nor promote the growth of literature and science in
his dominions, he lent his aid at least in one respect to assert
the rights of humanity, by mitigating the severity of military
discipline in the army. During the reigns of his grandfather
and uncle, the life of the common soldier had been one of
great hardship. The slightest dereliction from duty, the
smallest inadvertence upon parade, were punished with the
most barbarous severity. Their pay was so small * that when
provisions were dear, they were completely upon famine rations.
We read of one poor fellow who died from having eaten raven-
ously of raw potatoes, upon a field of which he chanced to come
in his hunger. Many of the officers were brutally severe in the
use of their canes when the men drilled badly. One, named
Eamin, noted for his harshness, put out one of a soldier's
eyes in this way. The next time he saw him, he said, " I broke
a pane of glass for you the other day, there is the price of it,"
giving him a twenty-groschen piece. It may be imagined with
what dread the recruiting officers were received when they
entered a village, the young men, with few exceptions, being
all liable to be enlisted for the service. Many maimed them-
selves, by cutting off one or more fingers of one hand, in order
thus to escape the requisition. Those who were already in the
army were, in many cases, so wretched from ill treatment and
insufficient food, that finding it almost impossible to desert, and
being told that they would go to hell if they committed suicide,
it was no uncommon expedient for them to murder an infant,
with the view of being condemned to be shot. So frequent
had this crime become, that Frederic II. found it necessary,
in order to put a stop to it, to deny such persons as committed
it the solace of a priest in their last moments. The condition

* The pay of the common soldier was eight Gros every fifth day, or \\d. per
day. — < ' Licht-Strahlen. "

328 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

of the soldiers was much ameliorated in Frederic William II.'s
reign. The horrible punishment of " Gassen-laufen," or run-
ning the gauntlet, was now also put a stop to in the army.

After her husband's death the Queen Dowager's trials may
be said to have been at an end. We find almost no mention of
her actions during the few remaining years of her life. Her
son's respectful affection for her was now able to gratify itself
by placing her in that high position of honour and respect
from which it had cost him so much pain to behold her debarred.
She had also the happiness of witnessing his perfect domestic
felicity, and of seeing her grandchildren growing up fair and
engaging around her. The little cloud, no bigger than a man's
hand, the herald of approaching tempest, was only just rising
above the horizon, and many fair days of social regeneration
and national progress, beneath the mild administration of her
son, seemed still in prospect for the country, when Queen
Frederica Louisa breathed her last, in that first year of
Prussia's troubles, 1805.

Besides King Frederic William III. and Prince Louis, her
other two sons were Prince Henry and Prince William; the
former lived and died in Rome, where he had married below the
rank of a royal prince. Prince William married the Princess
Marianne of Hesse-Homberg ; he offered to become a hostage
for the payment of the contributions levied upon Prussia by
Napoleon, but the Emperor replied "that it was very noble, but
impossible." His son Prince Adalbert, married, with the left
hand, Theresa, the sister of Fanny Elsler ; and Prince Walde-
mar was the lover of a daughter of Goethe's Bettina von Arnim.
Wilhemina, one of the Queen's daughters, married William,
Stattholder of the Netherlands, and Augusta was united to the
Elector of Hesse, William II.*

* Vehse.

LIFE OF LOUISA,

OF MECKLENBUEG-STKELITZ,

SIXTH QUEEN OF PRUSSIA,

IT is a relief to turn from the scenes of profligacy and folly
which disgraced the reign of the last King of Prussia, to the
contemplation of a character so pure and elevated as that of the
Princess whose name heads this chapter. Let Jean Paul tell the
story of the birth of this noblest and fairest lady of his German
Father-land, from that chronicle of her life which he had shrined
amidst his holiest recollections, in the mystical depths of his
poet's heart. " Before she was born, her genius stood before
Destiny, and said, ( I have many wreaths for the child, the
flower wreath of beauty, the myrtle wreath of marriage, the
crown of a kingdom, the laurel and oak wreath of German
Father-land's love — also a crown of thorns ; which of all may I
give the child?' 'Give her all thy wreaths and crowns/ said
Destiny. ' But there is yet one crown in reserve, which is worth
all the others.' On the day when the death-crown was placed
on that noble head, appeared the genius again, but only his
tears questioned Destiny. Then answered a voice, { Look up !'
and the God of Christians appeared." *

The Princess Louisa, f of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, thus called

* Schmerzlich-trb'stende Erinnerungen des 19en Juli, 1810," contained in Jean
Paul's " Herbst Blumine," chap. 10, and especially addressed by the author
in his dedication to the Prince George Charles Frederic, hereditary Duke of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the brother of Queen Louisa.

*f Louisa Augusta Wilhelmina Amelia were her baptismal names.

330 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

by Destiny to so mingled an inheritance of joy and sorrow, was
descended from one of the most ancient princely houses of
Germany; she numbered amongst her ancestors Henry the
Lion, Duke of Saxony, by whom the country was conquered
from its barbarous inhabitants, and who gave the hand of his
daughter, and part of the conquered territory, to the heir of
the former sovereign; who thus became the founder of the
Mecklenburg family. The father of Louisa was Charles Louis
Frederic, then hereditary prince, afterwards Duke of Mecklen-
burg-Strelitz, the brother of Queen Charlotte of England. He
was Governor General of Hanover, and held the baton of Field
Marshal in that service at the time of the birth of this daughter.
Her mother, a Princess of Hesse Darmstadt, and cousin of the
crown Princess of Prussia (Louisa, wife of Frederic William II.,
the memoir of whose life we have just concluded), died after
giving birth to her tenth child, May 22, 1782. The widower
withdrew, in the first depth of his sorrow, to the comparative
seclusion of Herrenhausen, committing the Princess Louisa,
then six years of age, to the charge of Fraulein Wollzogen.
Anxious to replace, as far as possible, the tenderness of a mother's
affection to his children, he married the sister of his former
consort, in 1784; but the renewal of his domestic happiness
was destined to be of very short duration, for this lady unhappily
followed her sister to the grave, in 1785, after giving birth to a
son. The Duke was well-nigh heart-broken at this second be-
reavement ; he retired from the Hanoverian service, and betook
himself to Darmstadt, where he placed his twice-orphaned chil-
dren under the charge of their grandmother, the Dowager
Landgravine, a lady of most exemplary character, and one who
was, moreover, gifted with that nice perception of the shades of
disposition in children, which is so desirable a qualification in
those who have the charge of their education, since it affords the
best chance for the adoption of such a system of management
as may beneficially develope the germs of character. She soon
observed that the course which had hitherto been pursued with

LOUISA. 331

the young Louisa — a child of an imaginative and warmly-
affectionate temperament — was rather calculated, by checking
all manifestation of natural feeling, to render the timid child
shy and reserved, than to ripen such a disposition to the rich
maturity of which it gave promise. She therefore replaced the
present instructress, Fraulein Agier, by a Swiss lady, named
Gelieur, a person admirably qualified, by her amiability, up-
rightness, and piety, rightly to influence the susceptible mind
thus committed to her charge. How scrupulously and well she
discharged her duties, is shown, at once, by the effect of her
training on her pupil's mind, and by the loving respect with
which the Princess ever regarded her in after life. The King also,
always said that he owed her a great debt of gratitude for her
care of his Louisa in her youth ; and long after her death, when
a gleam of brighter promise once more shone on Prussia's fallen
fortunes, he turned aside from his route in passing through
Neufchatel (now again become Prussian ground) to visit Fraulein
Gelieur in her brother's quiet parsonage, and selecting a shawl
often worn by the Queen, from the relics of his beloved which
had accompanied him to the battle-field, he presented it to her,
because he knew his wife would have wished the friend whom
she so much venerated, to possess some last remembrance of
her.

Amongst the earliest notices of the life of the Princess Louisa
is one of a journey in which she accompanied her grandmother
on a visit to her aunt, the Pfalzgrafin of Zweibriicken, at
Strasburg; whilst there she visited the Cathedral, and very
much wished to ascend the whole 725 steps, to the ball, for the
sake of the view. From Strasburg their journey lay through
the beautiful district of the Rhine to the Netherlands. The
history of this country excited much interest in the mind of
Princess Louisa, who had read with deep sympathy the account
of its brave struggles for freedom in Schiller's " Revolt of the
Netherlands/' In 1792 the two Princesses, Louisa and Frede-
rica, accompanied their grandmother to Frankfort, to be present

332 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

at the coronation of the Emperor Francis II. During their
sojourn at this town they paid that visit to Goethe's mother
described by " Bettina" in Goethe's " Correspondence with a
Child/' when the two Princesses amused themselves by pump-
ing water in the " Frau Rath V Hof, and could not be prevailed
upon to desist from this undignified amusement until their
Hofmeisterin obliged them to come in, and, lest they should be
tempted to resume it, fastened them into the room, to the great
regret of the Frau Rath, who thought it very hard that the poor
young things should be deprived of so innocent a pleasure,
which they could enjoy only at her house, and who strove to
console them by setting before them a plentiful supply of her
famous " Eier-kuchen" and " Speck salat," of which they left
not so much as a te crumb or a leaf/' such justice did they do
to her skill. Shortly after this time, the Rhine-country threat-
ening to become the seat of war, the two Princesses were sent
on a visit to their married sister, Charlotte, the Duchess of
Hildeburghausen. The picturesque scenery of the romantic
river Werra, which runs through this district, had a peculiar
charm for the Princess Louisa's highly imaginative tempera-
ment, and her sejour in the neighbourhood seems to have been
a season of much enjoyment to her. She and her sister re-
mained there until 1793, when they returned to Darmstadt via
Frankfort. During the time which had intervened between
this and their former visit, Frankfort had twice changed hands,
having been taken by the French, and recaptured by the brave
General Riichel. It was now the head-quarters of the Prussian
army, and the Landgrave of Hesse, who was in alliance with
Frederic William II., had invited his relative, the Dowager
Landgravine, to return by that route, in order to have an oppor-
tunity of presenting her two grand- daughters to the King of
Prussia. Thus strangely does this eventful visit to Frankfort,
which was to influence so deeply the future fate of both sisters,
appear to have been the effect of chance. Who would have
predicted that the two slenderly-apanaged Princesses of Meek-

LOUISA. 333

lenburg-Strelitz who accidentally passed through Frankfort,
intending to remain there but a few hours, would have left that
place as the affianced brides of the two elder Princes of Prussia !
Yet such was the fact. The Landgravine of Hesse had intended
to resume her journey after visiting the theatre on the evening of
her arrival, but she was induced to defer her intended departure
by an invitation to sup with the King.

The Princess Louisa was now seventeen years of age, and in
the first bloom of that exquisite beauty which afterwards
became celebrated throughout Europe. She was tall and
slender in person, and there was a peculiar grace about her
movements, a nameless charm which hovered round her, and
could not be traced to mere beauty of feature or form, but
which seemed an emanation from the bright spirit within, in
short, it was "the mind, the music breathing from her face,"*
which possessed a perfect power of fascination over all who saw
her. Both old and young, rough and severe, as well as
refined and gentle, were equally attracted. "Even such men
as were not easily carried away by enthusiasm, spoke with
enchantment of Louisa," says Vehse. " The rough and caustic
Hitter von Lang became tenderly sentimental in the passage of
his memoirs, where he speaks of her. ' She floated before me,'
says he, ' like a wholly unearthly being of angelic form and
honey- sweet eloquence, by means of which she concentrated all
the beams of her graciousness, so that every one seemed to fall
into a magic dream/ ' She was a complete enchantress if ever
I saw one.; "t This was the fairy creature upon whom the eyes
of the crown Prince rested, on his first introduction to the
Princess Louisa, of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Years afterwards,
when he had lost her, he said to Eylert, in one of those rare
moments in which he trusted himself to speak of her, " I felt

* Frau von Berg, in describing her mistress, says, "an inexpressible grace
clothed her every motion ; but this grace was not merely outward, it arose from
the inner depths of her mind, and therefore was it so full of soul (Seelenvoll)."

f Von Lang saw her after she was Queen, in 1803, at Anspach.

334 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

when I first saw her, f Tis she, or none on earth/ I remember
having met with a passage somewhere in Schiller which con-
tains those words, and describes the emotions that awoke in my
heart at that moment." Eylert afterwards looked out the pas-
sage ; it is from the "Brant von Messina," and runs thus : —

"Whence she came, and how before me thus
She stood — that ask not — as I turned
My eyes, they fell on her who stood beside, —
And strange, mysteriously mighty, wonderful
Her presence seized upon my inner life. —
'Twas not the magic of that wondrous smile,
'Twas not the charm which hovered o'er her cheek,
Nor yet the radiance of her nymph -like form, —
It was the sweet, deep secret of her being
Which held and fetter'd me with holy might.
Like magic powers that mix mysteriously,
Our twin souls seemed, without one spoken word,
To leap together, spirit-stirred, and blend j
As my breath mixed with hers —
Stranger to me, yet inwardly akin,
Belov'd at once, I felt graved on my heart
'Tis she or none on earth. —
It is the holy beam of divine love
Which strikes upon, and kindles in the soul,
When kindred spirit meeteth with its kin.
There is no opposition and no choice, —
And man may loose not that which Heaven binds. " *

Prince Louis, the brother of the crown Prince, was similarly
struck with the younger Princess Frederica ; and before many
days were over, the brothers had each sought the approbation
of their father, and the favour of the fair ladies of their re-
spective choice. It is a rare circumstance in the annals of a
princely family, that three of the daughters should make pure
love-matches, yet so it was with three out of the four sisters of
the family Mecklenburg-Strelitz, for the Princess Theresa, of
Thurn and Taxis, had been similarly wooed and won by a man,

* Eylert, in his " Charakterziige aus dem Leben Friedrich Wilhelms III.," gives,
on this text, a long disquisition upon the subject of love at first sight; but what
in German is only sentiment, sometimes, when translated into English, sounds
very like sentimentality. The passage may be found in Mrs. Richardson's " His-
tory of Queen Louisa."

LOUISA. 335

who, for the love of her, rejected the chance of half a million,
with the hand of the Princess of Doria.*

Jean Paul dedicated his " Titan" to these " four fair and
noble sisters on the throne,"f and in his " Herbst-Blumine," he
thus speaks of them in his own richly-quaint, poetic fashion : — J
" Aphrodite, Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia, looked down into
the earthly clear-obscure here below, and weary of the ever
bright but cold Olympus, they wished themselves below the
clouds enveloping our earth, where the soul ever loves more
because it suffers more, and where it is sadder but warmer.
They heard the holy tones mount up, with which Polyhymnia,
invisible, wanders through the deep earth-valleys in order
to refresh and quicken us, and they sorrowed that their thrones
.stood so far distant from the sighs of the helpless. Then they
resolved to take the earthly veil and clothe themselves in our
form. But when they stirred the first blossoms of earth, and
cast only beams but no shadows, then Eate, the mournful
Queen of Gods and Men, raised her eternal sceptre and said —
' Immortals become mortal upon earth, and every spirit becomes
a human being/ Then they became human, and were called
Louisa, Charlotte, Theresa, and Frederica."

The King of Prussia was by no means bent upon aggran-
disement, by means of matrimonial alliances with foreign
Powers, for his sons ; he therefore cordially gave his consent
to their wishes, and himself exchanged the rings on the betro-

* See " Luise Kb'nigin von Preussen zum Deutschen Volke." The attachment
of the Princess Theresa and her husband remained as ardent and unchanged in
their old age as in their youth ; on the day when the Prince was attacked while
hunting with the seizure which caused his death, his wife, ignorant of the cause
of the delay, was watching, as usual, for his return from the windows of the castle,
and waving her handkerchief to let him know she was at her post.

•f" Louisa Queen of Prussia, Frederica Queen of Holland, Theresa Princess of
Thurn and Taxis, and Charlotte Duchess of Hildeburghausen.

J This passage is quoted by the author of " Luise Konigin von Preussen zum
Deutschen Volke. " This work is one of the most pleasing of the many memo-
rials of this favourite Queen of the Prussians : it is written with much taste, and
contains also great part of the work of Frau von Berg, the confidential friend of
Louisa, during the period of trial which preceded her death.

336 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

thai of the two young couples at Darmstadt, in April, 1793.
In the ensuing May, the two Princesses visited the Prussian
camp before Mainz. Goethe — who, as stated above, accom-
panied the army on this campaign — saw them on this occasion.
He writes, Thursday, May 29, from the camp before Mainz :
— <{ A pleasant spectacle was prepared for us all, especially for
me. The Princesses of Mecklenburg had dined with the King
at Bodenheim,* and after dinner they visited the camp. I
concealed myself in my tent, so that I could see their High-
nesses, who passed up and down immediately in front of it,
and observe them narrowly ; and truly, amidst the tumult of
war, one might have taken these two young ladies for heavenly
visions, whose impression upon me will never be effaced." f
That knight of olden chivalry, La Motte Fouque, also, thought
it truly " in the spirit of the old hero times, that the eyes of
beauty and innocence should be directed to the glorious battle-
field."

After some months more had been wasted in this cam-
paign, the crown Prince gave up the command of the siege of
Landau to General Konobelsdorf, and returned with his brother
to Berlin, in November, in order to prepare for the reception of
their brides. The two Princesses were expected in December;
they were received on their arrival by their affianced husbands,
at Potsdam, and on Sunday the 23rd, a bright, clear winter's
morning, they made their state entrance into Berlin. The
streets were lined with spectators, all dressed in their holiday
suits, for the marriage was highly popular, glowing reports of
the wonderful beauty and goodness of the future crown Princess
having been spread by all who had seen her.

The spot fixed upon for the erection of a gate of honour, was
one which commanded the finest view in Berlin : it was at the
entrance of the Lindens, where the statue of Frederic the Great
now stands, and where on one side, the eye seeks the Branden-

* The King's head-quarters.

*h See " Campagne in Frankreich."

LOUISA. 337

burg gate through the long vista of a double row of palaces;
and on the other, the view includes the buildings of the univer-
sity, the library, the royal palace and arsenal, and so away to
the old castle and the Dom-Kirche ; * and here the brightest
flowers in gay profusion, and orange and citron trees in fruit
and blossom, seemed to make even the stern sway of winter yield
to the sunny influences of those two fair young brides. This
was the central point towards which, as the cortege advanced,
surrounded and preceded by the citizens, who, despite all remon-
strances, persisted in escorting their own crown Princess into
their own town, — the thronging multitudes streamed, gay and
good-humoured, as only a Berlin crowd can be. When the
Princess Louisa approached, fifty pretty little maidens, all
dressed in white, and garlanded with bright blossoms, stepped
forward to offer her flowers, whilst the leader of the band pre-
sented her with a poem of welcome. The affectionate greeting
which hailed her on all sides touched Louisa deeply, and in the
warmth of her heart, as her readiest means of response, she
clasped the child in her arms and kissed her repeatedly.
Imagine the dismay of the new Oberhofmeisterin Frau von
VosSjf a good and upright lady, whose whole mind was given
to her office, and to whom a breach of etiquette was nearly as
bad as that of one of the Ten Commandments !
" Mein Gott ! what has your Highness done V
" What ! " said Louisa, simply; " may I not do that again ?" J
The wedding took place on Christmas Eve : the whole party
first repaired to the apartments of the venerable Queen Dowager,
Elizabeth Christina, whose gentle presence was required to add
its mild sunshine to the pleasure of the happy party, and who
accompanied them to the White Hall, where the ceremony was
performed.

* See Bishop Eylert's " Charakterziige aus dem Leben Friedrich Wilhelms III."
*h Frau von Voss was the widow of Ernst Johan von Voss, the Queen Dowa-
ger's former Grand Marshal, who has been mentioned above.
t Eylert.

* Z

338 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

The citizens of Berlin wished to illuminate in honour of the
crown Prince's marriage. " Nay," said he, when he heard of
their intention, " if they wish to celebrate my marriage in a way
that will give me pleasure, let them bestow upon the poor of
Berlin the money which the illumination would have cost."
This incident furnished a true omen of the government to be
expected by his people, from the hands of Frederic William III.,
not brilliant, but mild and beneficent.

The marriage of the other young couple, the Princess Frede-
rica and Prince Louis, took place the day following Christmas-
day. On the public reception after the crown Prince's marriage,
every one had appeared in the uniform belonging to his office,
whether civil or military, in order to do honour to the occasion,
and the King had expressed his dissatisfaction at seeing so few
private citizens amongst the crowd. The consequence was, that
at the next reception, the number of tickets was greatly ex-
ceeded, and the rooms were so densely crowded that it was very
difficult for any one to make his way through them : therefore,
when the King, who was now extremely corpulent,* entered, he
found it impossible to advance; turning sideways, therefore,
with his left elbow in advance, and thus making room for the
Queen, who leaned on his right arm, to follow; "Don't
disturb yourselves, children," said he; "the Bride-father
must not be broader than the other guests to-day;" a speech
that passed from lip to lip, and was repeated in affec-
tionate remembrance of the kind-hearted King, for many a
day afterwards.

Probably never was any marriage more thoroughly " made in
heaven " than this, between the " angel- fair and angel-good "
Louisa and the mild and noble-hearted Prince of Prussia. We
have but to refer to the pages of Bishop Eylert for proof upon
proof of the entire compatibility of the two natures thus
united. He delights, in his glowing descriptions of his idolized

* The ladies in Frankfort, where he was very popular during his stay, used to
call him " Unser lieber dicke Wilhelm" (our dear fat William).

LOUISA. 339

sovereigns, in giving enumerations of antithetically arranged
qualities, the comparative dissimilarity of which, as in all true
counterparts, by the closeness of the fittings, make the junction
so much the firmer. Thus, for instance, he says : — " He was
grave, she was lively ; he was concise, she loved to dilate ; he
was anxious, she cheerful; he was thoughtful, she was symp^this-
ing," &c. At the conclusion of the list of corresponding charac-
teristics, he says : — " He was wholly man, she wholly woman,
full of love and gentleness ; both were one heart, one soul."
Louisa was, indeed, that " perfect music unto noble words,"
whereby our own poet has so beautifully imaged the harmony
of the union of true wedlock. Both she and her husband
were simple and domestic in their tastes, disliking equally and
avoiding, as far as possible, the irksome restraint of court cere-
mony. Soon, wondering reports circulated, that the " Sie " of
polite life was discarded in the intercourse of the crown Prince
and Princess; it was dreadfully undignified. Representations
were made to the King that they called each other "Du," like
the very peasants. The King thought it was right, at least,
to mention the subject to the crown Prince. " I have heard,"
said he, " that you call the crown Princess ' Du ? ' " " There
is a good reason for it," replied the Prince, " with ' Du ' one
knows where one is, with ' Sie * one always has to consider
whether it should be written with a large or a small letter ! ' "
It was a strange sight, too, such as Berlin had never been
used to, to behold that youthful couple wandering, unrestrained
by the presence of their suite, hand-iii-hand, amidst the gardens
of their dwelling ; or to see the crown Prince driving the Prin-
cess alone in an open carriage, like any private citizen with his
wife. The court days were no small trial to both parties, the
Prince used to look upon his wife when she had laid aside her
jewels, on these occasions, as "a pearl restored to its native
purity." Once taking hold of both her hands, and looking
deep into her blue eyes, he said, " Thank God ! you are my
wife once more." " How ? am I not always your wife then ? "

z 2

340 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

asked she. "Alas! no," replied her husband, "you must so
often be only the crown Princess." *

Under these circumstances, it may be imagined that poor Frau
von Voss had much to contend with. She could not argue
either Prince or Princess into what she considered a decent
sense of their position. Besides, there lurked a great deal of
quiet humour under the grave smile and calm grey eye of
Frederic William, and he delighted in teasing the poor Oberhof-
meisterin. Once he desired her to announce to his wife in due
form, that his Royal Highness the Crown Prince, desired to
have the honour of paying his respects to her Royal Highness,
the crown Princess. A proud and happy woman was Frau
von Voss, as with slow step and dignified demeanour she ap-
proached the Princess's apartment, threw open the door, and —
beheld the Prince quietly seated on the sofa beside his wife ; he
had slipped quickly round by another entrance, in order to be
there before her. "You see, my dear Voss," said he to the
astonished and crest-fallen mistress of the ceremonies, " My
wife and I see each other unannounced as often as we please,
which is as it should be in right Christian order ; but you are
a charming Oberhofineisterin, arid shall be called Dame d'eti-
quette." f On another occasion, he allowed Frau von Voss to
order the state equipage, with outriders, for himself and the
Princess to pay a visit of ceremony. When the carriage drove
up, he handed the good lady in, shut the door quickly, and
ordered the coachman to drive off, whilst he drove the Princess
as usual in their plain phaeton. J But the crowning indignity
was a trick which he played her at Paretz, the happy little rural
retreat which he purchased at a later period, and which both he
and the crown Princess were very partial to. He invited the
Oberhofmeisterin to accompany them in a pleasure excursion
through the woods ; she was highly flattered at the invitation,
and accepted it graciously. At the appointed hour, instead of
the elegant carriage in which she had expected a seat, what
* Eylert. f Ibid. J Ibid.

LOUISA. 341

should drive up to the door but a common Leiter-Wagen,* with
not even a page to assist the ladies to climb into the clumsy
vehicle. It was too much — Frau von Voss could not submit to
that last indignity. The crown Prince and Princess mounted
nimbly to their places, and called to her to join them, but she
shook her head and turned mournfully away — unwilling to
behold their disgraceful departure in that ignominious convey-
ance.

These anecdotes are sufficient to show how happily the stream
of Louisa's wedded life glided on amidst the flowers which
marked its early course. Both she and her husband forsook
the Court as much as possible. The crown Prince's chief
motive for living in so retired a manner was, that the idea
of exposing his wife to the contamination of contact with the
Grafin Lichtenau was intolerable to him, and it was impos-
sible to frequent the Court without doing so. In addition
to this, he was naturally of a retiring disposition, and the
education which he had received had fostered this tendency
to a painful degree. Allusion has been before made to the
restraint under which the Prince had been kept by Benisch
in his childhood. f Besides this drawback, moreover, the
crown Prince's youth was beset by others of various descrip-
tions. The petty economy of his uncle during his latter
years, had provided so sparingly for the maintenance of the
young Princes, that their very table was insufficiently sup-
plied, and they frequently rose from it still hungry. J On their
father's accession things were not much improved, for his
pleasures and debts required too great an expenditure to permit
a material increase of the allowance of his sons. Thus cramped
and confined, both in mind and body, in all imaginable ways,

* The leiter or ladder- waggon, in general use among the German husbandmen,
is the most primitive vehicle imaginable, its sides consisting of two broad ladders,
which converge at bottom, so as to form a capital V when looked at from either
end.

f See Life of Louisa of Hesse Darmstadt.

J "Vertraute Brief e."

342 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

those natural abilities which had led Mirabeau to augur a
tl great future for this young man/' * stinted in their develop-
ment by want of proper nutrition and cultivation, his inclinations
thwarted whenever they ventured to show themselves, Frederic
William became shy, taciturn, and needlessly distrustful of his
own judgment. It was happy for him and for Prussia that he
was endowed by nature with what Von Colin calls " so glorious
a disposition," that this miserable training developed in him
no worse moral features than these, although, politically, the
King's absence of self-confidence had the worst possible conse-
quences. <( The mild, well-disposed, upright Frederic William
III. was not fitted for the king of so corrupt a nation. A
despot, without parallel, should have followed Frederic Wil-
liam II.," says the same often-quoted writer. His later in-
structor, Leuchsenring, with whom he would have had a better
chance of improvement, for Leuchsenring was a learned and
enlightened man, unfortunately did not long continue in his
office, and when he was placed under Briihl's care, in 1786,
the mischief was already irreparable. " He already was/' says
Von Colin, "and remained, reserved, without self-confidence,
and therefore embarrassed and bashful in public; for this
reason all representation (Reprdsentiren) was distasteful — all
the ceremonial of his appointed part repugnant to him ; he
preferred being either by himself or amongst his acquaint-
ances."

The crown Princess, on her side, although calculated to shine
in society, and not naturally averse to it, fell contentedly into
her husband's tastes in this, as in all other matters, and, per-
fectly happy in his society, never dreamed of wishing for any
other, except that of her sister Frederica. This Princess and
her husband, an equally attached couple, frequently visited the
crown Prince and Princess, for the marriage of the two brothers
seemed to have drawn even closer the bonds of mutual affection
which had united them ever since their childhood. Eylert says
* Mirabeau, " Hist. Secrete de la Cour de Berlin."

LOUISA. 343

there could not be a more beautiful sight than to behold those
four young people together, so entire was the feeling of con-
fidence, esteem and affection which united them. Both his
daughters-in-law were great favourites with the King, the
crown Princess especially. He used to call her the " Princess
of Princesses/' and delighted in procuring her pleasure and
giving her proofs of his favour. She enjoyed also, in a high
degree, the friendship and esteem of her mother-in-law, the
Queen, whilst the aged Queen Dowager gladly admitted the
affectionate, winning young creature, between whom and her-
self there were so many points of sympathy of faith and
feeling, to a large share of her warm heart. Thus gaining
"golden opinions" from all, happy in her husband, happy in
herself, the young crown Princess found herself in an Elysium
such as falls to the lot of few who are " born to trouble " in
this dark sphere of sin and sorrow, and which was far too calm
and peaceful to be long untroubled by storms.

On her first birthday after her marriage, Louisa was feted by
all ; the " Court and the people emulated each other in giving
her proofs of their attachment." * The King gave her Oranien-
burg, the once favourite residence of her namesake, the Electress
Louisa ; a deputation of gentlemen and ladies waited upon her
to present her, from His Majesty, with the key. Always long-
ing to make others share in her happiness and thankfulness, by
giving them also cause for those emotions, the Princess ex-
claimed in her delight, " Now I only want a handful of gold
for the poor of Berlin." " And how big would the birthday-
child like the handful to be ? " said her father-in-law, smiling ;
"As big as the heart of the kindest of kings," replied she,
quickly. The King gave her a bountiful " handful," and the
poor of Berlin did share her pleasure in the way that pleased
her best, and that brought down many a blessing on her young
head, from the lips of age and misery.

The war in Poland was the first break in the quiet life of
* " Luise Konigin von Preussen."

344 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

domestic enjoyment led by Louisa and her husband ; the crown
Prince and his brother set off for the scene of action in May,
1794. The period of their absence was a painful one to the
two sisters, they spent much of their time together. Louisa
wrote, after hearing of the danger to which the Prince had been
exposed at the storm of Wola, " I tremble at every danger to
which my husband exposes himself, but I see that the crown
Prince who follows the King upon the throne, must follow him
also in the field." Both the Princes behaved with great bravery
in this expedition, which, however, like the campaign of two
years before, proved, from various causes, a total failure.

The anxiety suffered by the crown Princess during the
Polish campaign, and a fall which she had accidentally sustained,
resulted in the loss of her first child, a daughter, soon after her
husband's return; but the following year, 15th October, 1795,
there was great rejoicing in Berlin over the birth of her
son Frederic William, the present King of Prussia, The good
Queen Dowager, Elizabeth Christina, though now in her eighty-
first year, was still able to be present at the christening, and
bestow her blessing upon the new-born heir of the kingdom.
After this, more than a year of quiet, but almost perfect happi-
ness, was passed by the crown Prince and Princess. They had
found the palace at Oranienburg too stately, and requiring too
large a retinue for their simple tastes, and the crown Prince
therefore purchased the little estate of Paretz, near Potsdam,
upon which he began to build a comparatively small residence.
He told Gilly, the director of the works, to remember, whilst
carrying out the plans, that he was building for a poor gentle-
man, and not for a crown Prince. This little spot was the
scene of the happiest part of Frederic William and Louisa's
lives; here, even after the crown Prince's accession, they
used to spend all the time which could be spared from the
strict performance of the calls of government. The King
used to call himself the " Schulze * of Paretz ; " and the

* Country Magistrate.

LOUISA. 345

Queen, when asked by a foreign Princess whether she did
not find it dull to remain for weeks and weeks in this " her-
mitage/' replied, " Oh ! no ; I find it uncommonly pleasant to
be 'Lady Bountiful' of Paretz." Towards the end of the
year 1796, a most unforeseen calamity troubled the peace of all
the members of the royal family. This was the illness and
death of Prince Louis, the favourite brother of the crown
Prince. Both he and his wife were unremitting in their attend-
ance beside the sick bed of the sufferer, and upon them also, in
the midst of their own grief, devolved the duty of supporting
the King and Queen, and the young wife of Prince Louis,
under this affliction. After his death, Louisa had her sister
removed to apartments close to her own, so that she might
constantly watch over her, until she should have in some mea-
sure recovered from the effects of her bereavement, left as she
was a widow at the age of eighteen.

The loss of this brother, his bosom friend ever since the days
of their mutual childhood, was not likely to pass lightly over
the deep, silent feeling of such a heart as that of the crown
Prince ; his grief had a severe effect upon his health, and he
took to his bed immediately after leaving the side of his dead
brother, and was for some time seriously ill himself. The death
of Prince Louis was the first of the three bereavements sus-
tained by the royal family within a year, and was probably an
accelerating cause of the other two. The next loss was that of
the Queen Dowager, Elizabeth Christina, which took place about
a fortnight after the decease of her great nephew, January 13,
1797. In the autumn of the same year her death was followed
by that of King Frederic William II., and the crown Prince as-
cended the throne under the title of Frederic William III. He
had been asked how he would be called upon his accession ;
" Frederic William/' replied he ; " Frederic is unattainable for
me;" for so great was his admiration of the character and abili-
ties of his uncle, that he shrunk from seeming, even by a name,
to imply that he was worthy to succeed to the throne of so great

346 ' MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

a man. At first there was an effort on the part of the officials of
the Court, to subject the new King to the customary routine of
court etiquette, but he rebelled so vigorously that the attempt
was at length given up ; thus, when both the folding-doors were
thrown open to admit His Majesty, whereas one had sufficed for
him as crown Prince — " Am I grown so stout since yesterday
that you find that necessary ? " said he ; and, on observing the
Grand Marshal standing behind his chair at table, he asked why
he did so. " Etiquette demands it, your Majesty/' " How
long must you stand there then ? " " Till your Majesty first
drinks." "Does etiquette prescribe a particular draught?"
" Not that I know of, Sire." " Give me that water-bottle, then."
In this manner all restraints of the kind were removed as far as
possible. People were astonished at the familiar terms " My
wife," "My husband," which the King and Queen used in
speaking of each other ; the public was rather offended at seeing
them still driving or walking out unattended, with as little
ceremony as before. A passenger through the streets might
very possibly chance to meet the King alone and on foot, like
any private gentleman. At the Christmas "Markt" or fair that
year, the King and Queen were to be seen arm in arm, as
usual, going amongst the stalls, purchasing here and there, and
insisting on waiting quietly until prior customers were served.
The author of the " Vertraute Briefe " seems to think, that the
King thus too much lessened the distance between himself and
his subjects, and that by dissipating the halo which gene-
rally envelopes majesty, he ran some risk of not being duly
respected. But, after the Prussians had recovered from the
shock of finding that their King would feel, and think, and act
very much like any other mere, good man, and could be a king
without the constant attendance of a retinue, they began to pay
him a great deal more actual respect than they had accorded to
any of his predecessors, because they could see with their own
eyes that he was not only a man, but an upright, noble-hearted
man; they found, too, that he was, in point of fact, endea-

LOUISA. 347

vouring himself to ascertain their wants and wishes by thus
mixing with them, and that he was also placing the greatest
and most nattering confidence in them, especially by trusting
his beautiful young wife, whom they could see that he treasured
like the apple of an eye, amongst them, and so at length they
became very proud of his confidence and very anxious to
deserve it ; they began also to think of the perfect love between
him and that fair young creature — they called her angel
oftener than woman — by his side, as of something very holy
and very beautiful, and to wish that affection a little like it
might bless their own unions ; and thus, example was doing a
great work, and it was not such very bad policy for the King
to let people see he was a man, after all.

But there was a set of persons who looked with very dif-
ferent eyes upon the young King and Queen, and unfortunately
the set was a numerous one in Berlin at that time, and had
many members even amongst the highest nobility ; these
were the people who had lived unclean lives so long,
that they had altogether ceased to believe in the existence of
anything pure, or holy, or beautiful. Having degraded love,
trampled on marriage, and scoffed at religion themselves, they
were unable to believe that the King was really a faithful lover
and husband, or the Queen in truth a pure and pious wife, and
they watched and whispered and coined, hoping by means of
any little, venomous lie to throw discredit upon that, which, if
true, must place them by contrast, in what a horrible abyss of
filth and despair ! But it was of no use watching and whisper-
ing ; where all was bright and clear as the noon-day, what was
there to find out through any key-hole of malice ? It was in
vain to coin, the metal rang base, and was flung back with
scorn at the utterer. And thus, too pure to be assailable even
by calumny, doing, in unconscious humility, a great service to
their kind, seeking first in faith and earnestness the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, those two of God's children,
joined together by Him with His own blessing, went on hand-

348 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

in-hand, fearing no evil, through the paradise of love, where
He had placed them for a little season, to make them strong
against the coming time, when He should require them to come
forth and fight manfully, as his soldiers and servants, in the
great battle of life.

In May, 1798, King Frederic William III. set off to receive
the homage of his provinces ; he went first to Konigsberg,
the Queen having started a day or two previously, because, as
she was expecting her confinement before very long, it was
desirable that she should only make short stages ; they arrived
at their destination nearly at the same time. The Queen un-
dertook this jourruey, because she and her husband being
always happiest when together, they did not wish to be
separated unnecessarily. All extra ceremonial had been strictly
prohibited at the various towns which the royal party was to
visit, on account of the Queen's health, so that, says one of
the many memoirs of Queen Louisa, the receptions of the new
sovereigns seemed like "a succession of family fetes." At Star-
gard, nine little girls brought Louisa flowers, and one of them
told her that their number should have been ten, but that one
child had been sent home because she " looked so ugly." Like
most gentle affectionate women, Louisa was very fond of little
children,* and additionally so since she had been a mother;
children always came to her without fear, and received her
caresses gladly : the thought, therefore, of this poor little one
" sitting at home and weeping its bitter childish tears " on her
account, was more than she could bear, so she sent to fetch
the child, that she might comfort it herself out of her tender
mother's heart. At a muster of troops in another place, she
saw a grey-headed old man feebly trying to make his way
through the crowd, in order to obtain a sight of her ; she im-
mediately begged an officer to go and bring him nearer that he
might see her plainly. The old man lifted his cap from his
silver hair, and took a long, steady look at the fair face that
* She said, "Die Kinder-Welt ist Meine Welt."

LOUISA. 319

smiled upon him so kindly, wondering whether, when, before
long now, he should see the angels of heaven, their faces would
be very different from that. At Koslin the people came to her
carriage and begged her to alight and taste their " Eier-
kuchen •/' at Daiitzig they had built a bower for her on the
Karlsberg, whence she might have a beautiful view of the
surrounding landscape; after her departure, they called the
place by her name (Luisens-hain), that it might not be for-
gotten where the young Queen had stood to look over their
country; thus, in most of the places she visited on this
journey, some particular spot where she had stood, or sat, was
consecrated, as it were, to her, and kept sacred " as a sort of
family altar " ever afterwards.

When, subsequently, she visited Silesia with the King,
no restrictions on the score of health being necessary, her
enjoyment was intense, for the charm of beautiful scenery
which always had a powerful effect upon her imagination, was
now enhanced by the pleasure of viewing it by her husband's
side. Eylert describes how, on their visit to the Riesengebirge,
the King, as they ascended on horseback, rode first, playfully
endeavouring to prevent her from catching a glimpse of the view,
until she had attained the exact point where the whole glorious
landscape might burst upon her sight at once; whilst she
made sly attempts from time to time to get a peep over his
shoulder from behind ; but when the summit was reached, and
a scene of wild, stern majesty — mountains towering peak above
peak, bleak, lonely rocks, and awful precipices — revealed itself,
the King stood gazing, silent and reverential, and she beside
him, with folded hands and awe-filled eyes, both paying mute
homage in that grand temple of the God of Nature. The next
day they visited the mines, and found a party of the miners pre-
pared with a boat, to convey them through the subterraneous
passage of the Stollen-water, at the Fuchs-grabe. One of the
boatmen, when he had grown old, and Louisa had long forsaken
earth, used to tell how, as the boat passed along, — glimpses of

350 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

the dark water beneath, and the rocky roof above, being revealed
at intervals by the torch -light, — when the distant and solemn
tones of the hymn " Praise ye the Lord, the mighty King of
honour," came rolling grandly along the vaulted passage, she
grasped her husband's hand, as he sat beside her, (for it was his
favourite air,) and whispered almost below her breath, " Slowly,
good steersman ; oh ! slowly." " In all my life T never saw a
woman with such a face as hers. She looked grand like a
Queen, and yet as simple and friendly as a child. Mem Gott !
what a woman that was," the old man used to say, and the
tears would trickle down his withered cheeks as he added,
" Why did the dear God let her die so early ? " The Queen
herself put her own present into the hands of the men who had
procured her so much pleasure ; and the ducats thus bestowed
were not spent, but preserved as holy relics by them.*

The simple folks of Silesia treated her with an affectionate,
though respectful familiarity, that won her love in an especial
degree; at one place the women brought her a set of baby-
linen of their own weaving ; at Hundsfeld, they decked out the
horses they had to provide for her carriage, with flowers, bows
of ribbon, and gold and silver tinsel, as was their custom at a
wedding.f On this, and similar journeys, the halts, when the
pleasant meal was spread under the trees in the open air, and
when the hands of Louisa herself arranged all for comfort and
elegance at the rustic table, were seasons of particular enjoy-
ment. Sometimes, when the people lined the road for some
distance, before reaching a town, the King would lean back,
exhausted with the effort of constantly bowing to them, and
exclaim, as he saw his wife still returning their salutations, with
as beaming a smile as ever on her beautiful lips, " How can
you hold out so long?" and she would reply, "Do look at the
good, kind people, with their honest eyes !"

When at home, the King and Queen resumed their old sim-

* Eylert.

t See Rautenberg's "Luise Konigin von Preussen eine Denkmal."

LOUISA. 351

pie happy mode of life at Paretz, In the autumn of 1798,
they gave a harvest feast to the peasants of the place. Kockeritz
describes this country fete, as well as the way in which the
King and Queen passed their time here : " I have spent happy
days with our gracious ruler, at Paretz. We have diverted
ourselves extremely well, and enjoyed, to the full, all the plea-
sures of a country life. These good people enjoy so thoroughly
the simplicity of nature, when entirely free from constraint ;
they take a hearty part in the quaint expression of the plea-
sure of the country folks. Especially at the joyous harvest sup-
per, the fair and noble royal lady forgot her rank, and mingled
in the jocund dance of the young village men and maidens, and
danced with them merrily, in the best meaning of the words
freedom and equality. I myself did not remember my five and
fifty years, and danced with her, and so also did the Frau
Oberhofmeisterin von Voss, being invited by our gracious
master. Oh ! how happy we all were ! " Kockeritz had been
appointed Adjutant to the Prince, during the life of King
Frederic William II. His character strongly resembled that
of his master in many respects, and had unfortunately the same
failing — a want of self-confidence. But he was like him in his
simplicity and integrity of purpose, and like him also in his
sincere and earnest piety. A strong friendship subsisted be-
tween the two men thus similarly constituted. The crown
Princess treated Kockeritz with the greatest distinction, be-
cause he was her husband's friend, and because he was a
good man; both equally binding motives with her. Eylert
relates, that observing the old man always to retire after
dinner, though she and her husband would have preferred his
remaining, she watched him, and found that he withdrew to
smoke a pipe. The next day she had one in readiness, and
lighting it herself, presented it to him, saying, that now,
nothing need deprive her and her husband of the pleasure of
feeling that he was quite at home with them. The same author
gives manifold anecdotes, all proving the kind, unselfish care

352 MEMOIES OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

with which the wishes and feelings of even their lowest attend-
ants were consulted by these two rarely- constituted persons —
the care with which they sought an opportunity for repairing
any inadvertent or hasty expression towards them, as in the
case of the servant, who, at one place where the Schwarz-brod
of the country, — which the King always took when travelling, —
had been found bad, provided white bread when they re-visited
it, and was reprimanded for providing luxuries by the King,
who did not know why it was done, but who afterwards made
amends by a kind speech, and rewarded the forethought by
a present. And in the instance of the poor woman, who,
having wandered unconsciously into the Queen's seat at church,
sat down there, at the sign of a kind lady, and was after-
wards terrified at the reproaches of the Grand Marshal, for
having sat in the presence of the Queen ; when Louisa, hearing
of the result of what she had intended in kindness, knew no
rest until she had sought out Eylert himself, and sent him to
comfort the poor creature. These and a thousand more such
incidents * might be related, all showing how deeply the pre-

* Eylert also relates a story of a poor fisherman's widow who came to see
whether the "brother of the dead Prince Louis" would complete the cottage
which that Prince had begun to build for her, for, said she, " Syn broder war en
ehrlik gut man, und ich denke he wart et ok sien (Platt-Deutsch f or "his brother
was an honourable, good man, and I think he may be so too"). The King built
the cottage, and the woman brought him a dish of "Neun-auge" (lampreys) as
his reward. He took them to the Queen, saying, ' ' Siehst du ? Aemtchen bringt
Kappchen," and she decorated the dish with flowers at dinner, and sent it, with
an arch glance to her husband.

The King used generally to breakfast in the Queen's apartments, where fresh
fruit, his favourite accompaniment to this meal, was always provided for him.
One day, seeing a new cap on her toilette table, he asked how much it cost ?
"Oh ! it was very cheap," said she, " it only cost four Thalers." " Four Tha-
lers ? Do you call that cheap ?" said the King, and beckoning to an old soldier,
Christian Brande by name, who was a favourite with him, from a window, he
signed to him to come in. When the old man entered the room, the King said,
" Do you see that pretty lady on the sofa ? She is very rich — she gave four Thalers
for that thing there ; go and ask her to give you so much." The Queen laughed,
and gave him the money, and then pointing to her husband, said, roguishly,
" You see that fine gentleman there at the window ? he is much richer than I, he
gives me all I have ; go and ask him to give you twice as much as I have done !"

LOUISA. 353

cept, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" was im-
pressed upon the hearts of both Frederic William and Louisa.
It may be imagined, that with so intimate a knowledge of the
habits and wants of the people, as, from her frequent inter-
course with them Louisa possessed, the demands upon her
purse were not few ; besides, her hand was always open, it was
so much easier to give than to withhold ; the claims of destitute
children and mothers she could never even try to resist. Thus,
it not unfrequently happened, that her resources were exhausted
when some urgent call made her particularly anxious for
a supply. Wolter, her chamberlain, told her, on one of these
occasions, that he could give her no more, as it would set his
accounts wrong. She was in great perplexity how to meet the
demand, when, on going to her escritoire shortly afterwards,
she found the recently empty drawer, replenished. " Ah ! what
arigel has put this here?" exclaimed she. "There are so
many angels/' said her husband, " I only know the name of
one ; but you know the text, ' God giveth to his beloved sleep-
ing.'"*

I must give one more scene from the pages of Bishop Eylert
before I pass from the private, to the public life of Queen Louisa.
She and her husband were spending the Sunday evening with
their chosen friends, Eylert, Kockeritz, and Briihl, on the
" Pfauen Insel." f They had both been much impressed by
the former's sermon, preached in the course of the day, on those
words from the Book of Ruth, " Where thou goest, I will go,"
&c. The beauty of the calm quiet evening and the sounds of
distant music which floated to them on the soft summer air,
aided the effect of the reflections with which their minds were
engaged; a sort of solemn Sabbath-stillness gradually stole
over the whole party. At length the King rose, and saying

These and a variety of other anecdotes, given by Eylert, are to be found in detail
in Mrs. Richardson's "History of Queen Louisa."

* This passage in the 127th Psalm is thus translated in the German version
instead of as we have it, ' ' For so he giveth his beloved sleep. "

t Peacock's Island.

A A

354 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

softly to his wife, " I and my house, we will serve the Lord,"
withdrew into the deepening shadows of the trees. With a
ruler animated by such sentiments the country of Prussia was
sure of a blessing sooner or later.

But occupied as Louisa was with all her happy domestic
employments, and with her children, whom she kept beside her
as much as possible, and upon whose infant minds the first in-
delible principles of love and faith and duty, were impressed by
herself, and enforced by her own lip and eye, besides this best
mother's privilege and duty, and besides the time she carefully
preserved for her books and her music — for she was an appre-
ciating reader of good books, and like her namesake, Louisa of
Orange, a tasteful performer, both instrumental and vocal — it
must not be imagined that the claims of the Court and of society
were neglected ; on the contrary, no Queen was ever more
punctual in her appointments — none ever more gracefully digni-
fied in maintaining her position, at the same time that she
banished much of the formality which had hitherto made the
society of the Court so tedious. Eylert describes the smile with
which, on entering the room, leaning on her husband's arm, she
greeted the waiting circle, as something altogether exquisite;
and then the few words — just the right words — for every one,
and the happy tact which set all at their ease, without making
them forget their place — even the exquisite taste of her dress,
all combined to produce an effect which, though gradual, was
marked and most beneficial. " The Court/' says the author of
the memoir I have so often already quoted,* " soon began to
resemble a domestic circle •" men who had formerly foresworn
its precincts, because taste, learning, and good feeling had no
longer place there, were now commonly to be seen in the Queen's
assemblies. Another author remarks, that "the Court is
especially the model of a household; every intelligent woman,
every careful mother, should have a portrait of the Queen in the
family room. Formerly it was necessary to flee with wife and

* Luise Konigin von Preussen."

LOUISA. 355

children, from the Court as from an infected spot ; now one can
withdraw from the general corruption of morals to the Court as
to a happy island. A young man used formerly to go to the
remote provinces, or at least to families unconnected with the
town and Court, if he wished to find a good wife — now a man
may go to the Court as the chief seat of all that is best and
fairest, and think himself fortunate in receivin'g a wife from the
hands of the Queen. True wonders of transuhstantiation are
these, which have changed a Court into a family, a throne into
a holy place, a royal marriage into a union of hearts."

No remark can be needed, after such testimony as this, upon
the purifying effect which the mere example of one couple was
producing upon the manners of a whole people, nor upon the
duty which such instances show to be imperative upon all, in
whatever position of influence, to live themselves as others ought
to live.

It is painful to leave this first season of Louisa's pure, unal-
loyed happiness, to follow her through all the trials and suffer-
ings which were necessary, even to such a character as hers,
thoroughly to " purge away all the dross " which, as she was
a child of sinful humanity, still lurked within its depths, and
to render it, cleansed from all earthly stains, snow-white and
radiant, a fit companion for the angels who were waiting to
lead her up to the bright mansions where her Father called her
to dwell.

Before proceeding to relate the events which so rudely roused
Louisa and her husband from their dream of happiness, and
plunged them into that rough sea of misfortune whose bois-
terous waves broke the heart of the gentle Queen with their
cruel buffeting, bearing her to an early grave, and leaving her
husband a desolate and shipwrecked man upon the barren
strand of life, it is necessary to take a glance at the various
causes which ultimately produced these events.

On the death of Frederic William II., a King of whom one
of his own subjects exclaims, " Well for him — well for us — that

A A 2

356 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

he is no more ! the State was near its dissolution," * he left
to his successor an inheritance of "three very bad things,
namely, the demoralisation of the nation, the ministers who had
formed his own Cabinet, and the exhaustion of the treasury ."f
The French campaign of 1792 had drained the resources of
the latter. Frederic William II. was no economist, and at his
death his debts amounted, some say to twenty, some to forty
million Thalers.J His son endeavoured to liquidate these
claims by the strictest limitation of his personal, household,
and official outlay ; but economy in matters of this sort does
not go far towards replenishing the exhausted coffers of a
nation. The second part of this fatal legacy, the ministry who
were in power during the important period of the early part of
Frederic William III/s reign formed a triumvirate, the principal
characteristics of whose members, were, respectively, weakness,
craft, and self-interest. These three men were Haugwitz,
Lombard, and Lucchesini. Haugwitz, the Minister for Foreign
Affairs, to whom allusion has been made before, was a man of
neither character nor principle ; he was a mystic and a sensual-
ist; now Austrian, now French, — never Prussian of any worth;
always at the beck of Lombard, (his cabinet-rath). § Lombard, ||
like most of the French colony to which he belonged, was more
French than Prussian in his political views. He was sent on
a mission to Napoleon at Brussels in 1803, and was dazzled by
the flattery bestowed upon him by the First Consul, and the
glitter of the six thousand Napoleons d'or^f which found their

* Massenbach ; see Vehse.

t Vehse.

I Ibid. See also " Vertraute Brief e."

§ Gentz says, "Lombard exercised the most entire sway over Haugwitz, I
have heard him say to his brother, " Tell Count Haugwitz to come to me to-mor-
row morning, I have something to say to him." — See Vehse.

|| His father was a friseur, the father of his wife a barber. He used to jest
upon the lowliness of his birth, speaking of his father as a feu mon pere de pou-
dreuse memoire, and asking his wife whether it was more correct to say, "les
hirondelles frisent ou rasent la surface des eaux."

1i Merkel, editor of the " Freinuthigen," a political journal.

LOUISA. 357

way into his needy purse, and which bought him — and with him,
Prussia. Lucchesini was an Italian by nation ; crafty and
calculating by nature ; neither French nor Prussian by feeling ;
a thoroughly selfish, interested man, who, so long as he served
himself, cared not whom he disserved. Frederic William III.
had, unfortunately, but little insight into character ; he took
people at their own estimate. Upright and honourable himself,
he did not discover that others were not so ; distrustful of his
own really sound opinion, he took that of men who were
swayed by self-interest and ambition. Thus he was led to
commit the management of the kingdom to characters like
these, and thus, " as the hour of destiny arrived, was Frederic
William completely deceived — deceived by a characterless
courtier ; a half-Frenchman, who made it his boast to act as if
wholly so; and a crafty Italian adventurer, to whom nothing
was so important as his own advantage."* Yet one more
legacy of evil omen, had Frederic William II. left to his suc-
cessor— the consequences of the treaty of Basle, by which he
had " abandoned the house of Orange, sacrificed Holland, laid
open the empire to French invasion, and prepared the rain of
the ancient Germanic Constitution." f

Here were some of the primary causes of Prussia's misfor-
tunes ; yet, with Frederic the Great at the head of affairs, worse
conjunctures of circumstances than these, had been brought to
a prosperous issue. But that which rendered the late monarch's
unfortunate legacies so fatal to the kingdom, was, undoubtedly,
that want of self-reliance in his son which led him to place
confidence in, and to follow the guidance of such men as those
who formed his ministry ; hence, also, resulted the fact that
his political measures were so frequently hesitating, the exe-
cution of them dilatory, and the result of them unsuccessful.

The position of affairs in Europe had long been becoming
more and more critical. The French armies under their daring
young commander, after revolutionising all the smaller neigh-
* Merkel; see VeLse. + Alison's "History of Europe."

358 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

bouring States, and compelling Austria to sue for peace, were
once more threatening the very existence of that empire. The
New Coalition turned to Prussia to aid in quelling the arrogance
of a foe, who was thus placing in jeopardy the whole structure
of the continental system. But Frederic William was averse to
war upon principle; his ministry were likewise averse to it,
though not from the same cause. Under these circumstances,
it was decided that Prussia should preserve a strict neutrality.
This policy was satisfactory to no party, lost admirable chances
of re-establishing the balance of power in Europe by a timely
interference, and at last, by irritating the conqueror, and pro-
voking his contempt, prepared the way for the dismemberment
of Prussia. Prince Louis Ferdinand said bitterly but truly
with regard to it, " From the very love of peace, Prussia takes
a hostile position towards all other Powers, and will thereby be
one day mercilessly overthrown by one of' those Powers, which
may find it the right moment to make war. Then we shall
fall, without support, and perhaps without honour."

But the leaning of Frederic William's Cabinet towards Napo-
leon prevented the neutrality of Prussia from being actually so
strict as it professed to be. Napoleon held out the annexation
of Hanover as a lure to entice her into an alliance with him,
and though Frederic William's conscientious scruples made him
hesitate to commit so gross an infraction on the rights of
nations, still he felt that the bait was a tempting one. The
death of the Russian Emperor, Paul I., and the accession of
Alexander, in 1801, having detached Russia from the armed
neutrality of the Northern Powers, another attempt was made
by that State, in alliance with England and Austria, to induce
Prussia to join their alliance. Hardenberg's appointment to
succeed Haugwitz, in 1804, had given hopes of more vigorous
measures, but though it did, in all probability, prevent an
alliance with France on the above-mentioned disgraceful terms,
yet Prussia still clung to her old system of neutrality; and
when the Russian minister demanded permission for the passage

LOUISA. 359

of troops through the Prussian territories, the request gave so
much offence, as even to produce an order for troops to march
towards the Russian boundaries ; when a hasty movement of the
French Emperor, which violated the articles of Prussia's neu-
trality, without even the ceremony of asking leave, by marching
French troops through her territory of Anspach, caused her
suddenly to listen to the proposals of the Emperor Alex-
ander.

Parties ran high meanwhile at Berlin ; even the common
people formed into factions. There were the war party, the
English party, the peace party, &c., whilst the press and even
the theatres became the medium of party.* Prince Louis Fer-
dinand, son of Frederic the Great's youngest brother Ferdinand
— perhaps the most extraordinarily-gifted man in Prussia, — was
at the head of the war party ; he had no opinion of the system
of neutrality. He foresaw the " chains that awaited Prussia."
te It is our weakness, our pusillanimity," said he, " which will
make it easy for Napoleon to subjugate Europe." Fiery and
prompt in action himself, his cousin's hesitation and want of
self-confidence excited his pity and also his contempt. One day
in the Museum, he asked the guardian of the place whom a
bust, which he pointed out, represented; the man (a Suabian)
answered, "that is the war-god Marcsh.f "Yes," exclaimed
the Prince, " this is the god March ! and that is the god
Halt ! " pointing to a bust of the King which stood near.
Nevertheless, he entertained a high respect for the King's cha-
racter and natural talents ; he said of him, " I know only one
man in the Prussian States, who, through his knowledge of

* Unzelman, the actor, especially, introduced extempore political allusions into
his parts ; he was threatened with imprisonment, nevertheless he still continued
to throw out inuendos of this kind : one night a fellow actor whispered to him,
after one of these allusions, " That's punishable." He replied, going on with his
part, " Punishable, did you say ? What patriot would hesitate to add his mite
to build the altar of the Fatherland?" "You will certainly be imprisoned,"
said the other. ' ' I shall be imprisoned ? No matter ; better Prussian einges-
teckt than French hohngenecJctf"

f The provincial pronunciation of the name Mars.

360 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

affairs, and his abilities, would be in a position to save the king-
dom, if he would only trust himself, and that man is Frederic
William III."

The murder of the Due d'Enghien, in 1804, excited the most
violent feelings of indignation in all the other States of Europe,
in Prussia particularly ; even the gentle young Queen, stimulated
by a just abhorrence of the perpetrator of this crime, was induced
to wish for war. Prince Louis Ferdinand, who, like every one
else that came within her influence, admired her exceedingly,
endeavoured to induce her to rouse her husband to exertion : of
course scandalous but most false accusations were immediately
laid against Louisa's conduct by the peace-party, so soon as it
became evident that the Prince sought the Queen's society ; but
these reports did not reach her ears till afterwards, by means
of Napoleon's agents. Her brother and others who were known
to possess influence with her, were also employed to endeavour
to obtain the use of her power over the King ; thus her mind,
roused to the state of her country, became constantly filled with
that one absorbing subject : still, however, she expressed no
opinion upon the subject which was engrossing her thoughts,
and filling her mind with anxiety. The infraction of the Prus-
sian neutrality, by the march of the French troops through
Anspach, had excited her indignation in common with that of
the country generally, to a high degree ; when, therefore, the
Emperor of Russia came to Berlin, in 1805, she received and
entertained him with a pleasure which showed how entirely her
heart was on the side of his party. The Emperor Alexander,
then in the flower of his young manhood, enthusiastic and
ardently chivalrous, was much charmed with the lovely Prus-
sian Queen, and greatly taken also with her reserved and silent
but friendly husband, whose calm, grave character offered such
a contrast to his own fervid enthusiasm.

A somewhat romantic episode is said to have taken place be-
tween the two young monarchs, who, visiting at midnight the
tomb of Frederic the Great, clasped hands, and vowed eternal

LOUISA. 361

friendship and alliance above his ashes. The convention of
Potsdam was the result of the Emperor's visit ; still, however,
Prussia remained inactive, and even tried to compose her own
difference with France, and to mediate between that country
and the other Powers; and when Napoleon declined to treat
with Hardenberg, Haugwitz was recalled, and despatched to in-
form him of the Convention of Potsdam, and of the Prussian
proposals in accordance with its views. But finding the Em-
peror upon the eve of the battle of Austerlitz, Haugwitz delayed
the execution of his mission until he should see the result of the
day; and then, upon being received coldly by Napoleon, who
showed him a copy of the Convention which he had received
from sources of his own, telling him there could be, now, no
further subject of negotiation, the faithless ambassador forsook
the object of his mission, and made that "unholy compact"*
with Napoleon, of which the annexation of Hanover to Prussia
was the principal condition. When the intelligence arrived at
Berlin, the feeling of generous indignation at this base pro-
ceeding was universal. "The English party gnashed their
teeth ; the war party cursed ; the poets made epigrams ; the
Queen was inconsolable : every one saw that the glory of
Prussia was buried in the weakness of the Government." f
Hardenberg, indignant at an action which brought upon
Prussia the deserved reproach of duplicity, cowardice, and
cupidity, proffered his resignation : the Queen entreated him
not to forsake the Cabinet, of which he was the only influential
member, who had either principle or talent; Hardenberg
nevertheless retired from his office.

The confederation of the Rhine, the appropriation of Holland
as a kingdom for Louis Buonaparte, and of Juliers and Berg as
a duchy for Murat; the open allusions made by the French
officers, and even by Napoleon himself, J to the fate that awaited

* Vehse. t "Vertraute Brief e."

J Napoleon wrote to his brother Louis at this time, " Prussia and her allies
shall be destroyed."— " Luise Koniyin von Preussen."

362 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

Prussia ; and the proposed treaty with England, to the total dis-
regard of the Prussian possessions and interests, at last com-
pletely opened Frederic William's eyes, He saw on what a
precipice he was standing, and, as is often the case with persons
of a hesitating disposition, rushed precipitately into action at
last.

The Queen, in the meanwhile, had been at Pyrmont, to take
the baths of that place, for her spirits had been much de-
pressed, and her health had suffered severely, owing to the loss
of one of her children early in the spring of the year 1806.
The people of Berlin said, that she had been sent thither
by the war party, wrho hoped, that in his anxiety for her return,
the King would be more inclined to adopt those measures,
towards which she was inclined.* This, however, was without
foundation, except as regarded her husband's wish for her
return. Neither was she ever that active agent of the war
party, which she is represented to have been. There was no
doubt as to her wishes on the subject ; but her agency was
rather the tacit one of those unexpressed wishes than anything
else, for she had made it a rule, as she herself said,f not
to interfere in political affairs. Besides, on that one point, her
husband was jealous of anything like an attempt at using
influence, even from her ; and she respected his wishes far too
much to disregard them, even 011 points in which she was as
much interested as in the war question. "The Queen of
Prussia/' say the " Loscheimer " to the " Neue Feuerbrande,"
" has never advised either peace or war ; and in the govern-
ment, especially, she has never interfered." She was not am-
bitious, and had no wish for power ; besides, at Pyrmont, she
had heard but little of what was going on ; and when her hus-
band met her at Potsdam, on her return, the information that
he had declared war on France was altogether news to her.J

Now, indeed, she was at liberty to display all her enthu-

* " Vertraute Briefe." f See her conversation with Stein, page 370.

+ "Luise Konigin von Preussen."

LOUISA. 363

siasm in the cause ; and it was expressed in the liveliest man-
ner. Persons who were unfriendly towards her at the time,
exclaimed, ee How can so good and virtuous a woman as the
Queen is said to be, feel so much inclined for war ?" * But,
as the best men and clearest thinkers in Prussia thought as
she did on the subject, there is no need to enter into the ques-
tion, nor to state that, viewed in themselves, she also, in
common with all humane persons, regarded war and bloodshed
as fearful evils. The chief female head of the war party was,
rather the Princess Radizwill, Prince Louis Ferdinand's sister,
than the Queen ; this lady was of a quicker temper, and less
docile disposition than Louisa, and she expressed her opinions
in the most unqualified terms, speaking of Napoleon with
the bitterest hatred and scorn ; whilst the Queen, on the con-
trary, spoke of him "with an inward shudder, as that before
which all of good and pure must fall." But she permitted her-
self no words of hatred or scornful jesting upon the subject, f
it was too deeply felt to admit of that.

Preparations for war were now being carried on with a rapi-
dity to the full as injudicious as the former hesitation had
been. Frederic William was about, with equal bravery and
imprudence, to rush single-handed into conflict with an adver-
sary, with whom no continental power had hitherto been able
to cope. Such an undertaking should have suggested the
most extraordinary precaution and foresight in the adjustment
of measures, the most accurate calculation of chances, and, at
least, an ample provision of supplies to meet emergencies.
But none of these things were attended to as they ought to
have- been. Plans enough, it is true, there were, some of which
might have been successful, with an efficient commander-in-
chief to carry them out ; but of such a commander, the Prus-
sian army was unfortunately destitute; mere conjecture was

* The "Licht-Strahlen," in the years 1805-7, quote this remark, and com-
ment upon it.

t See "Luise Konigin von Preussen."

364 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

allowed to take the place of calculation in its councils \ and
even the commissariat department was so wretched a failure,
that, before the army had been long in the field, both men and
horses were starving. Von Colin gives as an instance of the
disgraceful neglect in this department, the fact, that a horse
belonging to the service was found to be in such a wretched
condition, that six Berlin street urchins bought it for six
Groschen, and all mounting upon its back, rode in triumph into
the Thiergarten, thus furnishing a sufficiently lucid commentary
upon the application of the generous aids, which, although it
was a year of scarcity, all the provinces were pouring into the
treasury.*

But the excitement and exhilaration caused by the prospect of
action, prevented the consequences of this precipitation from
being foreseen by more than the few. Troops were marching
from all quarters, all was bustle and motion. The Baireuth Re-
giment, upon the death of the Margrave, had been re-named the
" Queen's Regiment of Dragoons." As it passed Berlin, in its
road to Thuringia, the Queen went out to meet it, and headed
it in her carriage (not on horseback, as has been stated by some
authors), dressed in a spencer of the regimental colours, a com-
pliment which so gratified the men, that they begged for the
garment, and preserved it as a sacred relic of their Queen ever
afterwards. This was the occasion of that famous bulletin
of Napoleon's, one of a long series of offensive documents
directed against the beautiful young Queen, whom any other
man in Europe, friend or foe, would have honoured for her
enthusiasm in her country's cause. " The Queen of Prussia is
with the army," runs the bulletin, "dressed as an amazon,
wearing the uniform of her dragoons, writing twenty letters a
day, to spread the conflagration in all directions. We seem to
behold Armida in her madness, setting fire to her palace.

* Pomerania and Magdeburg prepared to deliver corn gratis. All the pro-
vinces emulated one another in their liberality. The King was even obliged to
limit their contributions.

LOUISA. 365

After her, follows Prince Louis of Prussia, a young Prince,
full of bravery and courage, who, hurried on by the spirit
of party, flatters himself that he shall find a great renown in
the vicissitudes of war. Following the example of these illus-
trious persons, all the Court cries, ' To arms V But, when war
shall have reached them, all will seek to exculpate themselves
from having been instrumental in bringing its thunder to the
peaceful plains of the north." *

These bulletins, which caused Louisa so much more grief
and annoyance than the paltry lies they circulated were worth,
although they have long assumed their true importance, were
then matter of so much discussion as to their truth or false-
hood, that most of the Queen's historians have sought either to
disprove them, or to apologise, as it were, for the fact that she
followed her husband to the very battle-field. Therefore, since
so much has been said and written upon the subject, I adduce
some of the testimonies which have been brought to her purity
of intention, and freedom from the mere desire for novelty, in
this part of her conduct ; although full many a noble-hearted,
true English lady can testify, that it is no unnatural or un-
womanly thing, for a wife to wish to accompany her husband to
the scene of danger, perhaps of death. Besides Louisa's own
desire, then, to be with the husband from whom she had pro-
mised to be parted only by death, it was his wish also, and
that would have been quite enough for her without any other
inducement. Moreover, she knew that her presence cheered
and encouraged the soldiers. " The Queen has been blamed/'
says Von Colin, " because on that fearful day (Jena) the death
hour of the Prussian State, she was still in the midst of the
army. This is too hard 1 This illustrious lady had never
employed herself with political affairs, till Alexander acquainted
her with the perils which threatened her house and the State ;
whether this danger were real or imaginary is now matter of
indifference; the Queen was not able to cast a very deep
* See Alison's "History of Europe."

366 MEMOIRS OF THE QUEENS OF PRUSSIA.

glance into state affairs. Enough,, this idea stirred up all
her womanly feelings; she saw her husband the King, her
children, the succession, all that was dear and precious to her,
in danger, — she sacrificed everything then to dare this danger,
and to share it with her husband. For this reason did the
gentle Louisa betake herself to the army; therefore, on the
13th of October, on foot in the streets of Weimar, did she show
herself to the troops, enlivening by her courage, and exalting
by her presence, all tha